HALO WALKTHROUGH

1. The Pillar of Autumn Page 2 2. HALO Page 4 3. The Truth and Reconciliation Page 8 4. The Silent Cartographer Page 14 5. Assault on the Control Room Page 21 6. 343 Guilty Spark Page 35 7. The Library Page 42 8. Two Betrayals Page 51 9. Keyes Page 61 10. The Maw Page 67

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1. The Pillar of Autumn

Reveille

Needless to say, you should be able to make it to the bridge without difficulty. Just follow the only path forward and try not to get caught in any explosions or crossfire.

AI Constructs and Cyborgs First!

As you leave the bridge, you'll come across your first enemies on Legendary. Three grunts. Only peek in far enough to shoot one at a time. Aim for the head and nail them each in turn. Step back through to door to recharge as necessary.

The next encounter in the mess hall is your first real fight and can be very nasty. Get through this battle as fast as possible. You want to do as much as you can while there are still marines around creating a distraction. First, pick up the assault rifle in the doorway. Switch back to your pistol, zoom in and look for a lone grunt. He may have survived the onslaught of your marines and he needs to go down. After he's toast, switch back to the assault rifle and reload it while you're running straight ahead at the two elites in front of you. If you can club them with your rifle from behind go for it. If not, just lay into the closest one with the assault rifle, bashing and even reloading if necessary. Pick up the pulse rifle it dropped, ditch your assault rifle, and proceed to blast the other elite, being careful not to hit any marines. The pulse rifle you just picked up absolutely rules this level in my opinion. I say this because it can quickly and easily dispatch elites, even from long distances. Once you start connecting with shots, elites will just stand and twitch while you pour on the hurt. They don't have any room to dodge like they do in later levels. As usual be careful not to overheat, but even if you do, they're usually so mad by that point they'll rush you and you can melee them or switch to your pistol, which you should still have at this point. So back to the mess hall. Head towards the new group of enemies at the far end of the room. Three elites and several grunts just showed up to ruin your day. The marines should be taking a lot of fire for you, so pause to dispatch a few elites or toss a few grenades if the opportunity presents itself, but soon you should head through the enemy and through the doors they used to enter. Once you're out of the mess hall, clean up any grunts in this next hallway. You can then peek back into the mess hall and take out one enemy at a time without too much of a problem. Remember there are two entrances to the mess hall from where you are now. Use them both. Definitely take out as many elites as you can while peeking in. If that's a problem, just go for grunts. If you're pulse rifle runs out of ammo, run in and get another one. Once you've killed all the grunts the remaining elites will rush into the hallway after you. Leave a grenade for them to run into and mop up any leftovers. Congratulate yourself and go scavenge the battlefield for grenades, a health pack, and the fullest pulse rifle.

Follow the hallways (bashing an elite in the back on the way) and you should come across the first boarding party blowing open a door into the ship. Immediately after you see the explosion toss a plasma grenade into the doorway that was just blown open. Follow it up with another thrown deeper into the alien ship. After they go off, run in and finish off any leftovers. Don't pick up the overshield yet! Follow the hall and you should come across a few grunts and an elite in a darkened hallway. Toss them a grenade to soften them up. After finishing them off, then you can go back to pick up the overshield.

Follow the hallways until you see some marines fighting ahead of you. Turn right into the hall before you get to them and follow it around to the left. You should be in a nice flanking position now, so start chucking grenades and blasting away. Many waves of Covenant will show up, but they all seem pretty concentrated on the marines ahead of them, so they shouldn't be much of a problem. Especially since you want them to take down your overshield.

2 Yes, you read correctly. Leave one grunt alive to take down your overshield. You can't pick up a new overshield if you still have any vestiges of an old one left. Go back and pick up a fresh one, and grab that health pack on the way to the next area if you need it.

Next, you'll see marines fighting on your left down a darkened hallway. Ignore them and follow the hall ahead, then left. Drop a grenade into the middle of the Covenant and blast any grunts nearby. As before, the elites will focus mainly on the marines and should be easy to take down.

The next group of Covenant has already blasted a way onto the Autumn. Too bad you couldn't catch these guys as they boarded. This section is pretty straightforward, though not necessarily easy. Use cover often to recharge, throw those grenades, and try to focus on one enemy at a time. Take out grunts first to reduce incoming fire, then elites. After you've fought your way past them, grab an overshield and scavenge as usual.

After crouching under a door, run through the next hall until you can just see a health pack on the left by a door. There's a piece of junk just to the right of the door, but you should be able to squeeze a grenade between it and the wall. Aim for the doorway and you should blow up a lot of this group. Back up and turn to your right. There should be a doorway that leads around to a flanking position on the remaining troops. There will probably be a lone elite here to blast through. Toss another grenade once you finish him off and follow the hall around. Mop up any survivors moving back and forth between the main hallway and this flanking hall. Once again you want your overshield to get depleted here so you can go pick up another one. If you have a partially damaged one, you can take it down yourself by bouncing assault rifle bullets off an energy shield. You'll definitely want a full overshield for the next section. You should also grab the health pack even if you're only moderately wounded. You're going to need all the health you can get for the next battle.

Next comes the stairs. This is probably the hardest part of the level. Rush in and run straight up the stairs to the top level. When you reach the top head left and go recharge in the corner of the room (that's the corner immediately on your right and up one level as you entered this room). Blast Covenant only if they get directly in your way. Now if you're facing the middle there should be a door to your right and the exit from this room further around the landing to your right. Take about five seconds to blast an elite if one's nearby then head to the door on your right. It should be opening slowly for a pack of elites and grunts. As soon as the door is open wide enough, drop a grenade in the center of the room. This should blow them all up, but instead of staying to watch continue on around and exit the room. As soon as you get out, turn right and bury yourself in the corner immediately on your right as you enter this room. There isn't much cover here just inside the door, but it should be enough. Just peek out and whittle down the enemy one by one. Go back in the room after the top level is clear and finish off any stragglers on the bottom level. An elite and a few grunts should be down there. Scavenge thoroughly after they've been eliminated.

Go back up now and leave the stair room. You should be looking down a long hallway at a group of Covenant. From this far off, shoot at the grunts with whatever is laying around from the stair room. Use charged shots from those plasma pistols. You may not hit anything, but they were just going to go to waste anyway. Once you've thinned their numbers, move slowly down the hall running from cover to cover until your behind the energy shield. Toss a grenade, then peek out and blast anybody you can in the confusion. Repeat until everything's dead. Now there should be just a few stragglers between you and that well-deserved health pack. Again, send a lot of charged shots of plasma down the hall to make your job easier before moving in for the kill.

Move ahead and use your pistol long-range on the grunts at the end of the escape pod hall. Enter the maintenance shafts.

3 There are several exits from the maintenance shafts and you should use all of them. Peek out, throw a grenade or blast a grunt, then retreat and go to a different exit. The last exit empties into some hallways that lead back to the Covenant, so use those halls to fire from as well, then go back in the tunnels. Occasionally you get them so twisted up coming from different places you can walk right up behind one and bash him. Be patient, look for opportunities to take one out each enemy by himself, and whittle them down until they're all gone. The next hall probably has an elite in it, so be careful of him as well

Pass through the cryochamber and on to the next hallway. Blast the elite at the end of the hall from long range, but keep running forward. An explosion should make him easy to finish off. Retreat into the long hallway. Peek out and shoot at grunts. Be patient and a few more explosions should take almost all of them out for you. Head back into the maintenance shafts.

Take out some stress on the grunts in the tunnel, then when you see an exit in front of you run up and throw a grenade out of it into the middle of the hallway. Quickly back up and turn left. Move forward and take a right then throw another couple of grenades out of the blocked exit. Back up again, turn left, and go through the last exit. Turn left and you should see just the tops of a few grunts in the corner. Toss a grenade into their midst, then head back to the right to clean up. After securing this area, scavenging, and picking up the health pack, look for a blue cylindrical thingy by itself. Near it is a door, which will lead you to a few grunts. Take them out, then head right around to a nice little flanking spot blocked by some junk. Toss all of your grenades (you'll get a lot more soon) to soften them up, and then go back around through the halls or just jump and squat over the junk to finish them off.

Now for the last fight of the level. This part is fun and easy. Crouch down when you see a pile of frag grenades scattered in front of you. Slowly creep up to the pile and fill up, staying crouched the whole time. Move back, staying crouched and chuck all your grenades over into the fray, being very careful not to bounce one back towards yourself. Move back up and fill up again. Keep throwing grenades until you're completely satisfied that everything nearby has been blown to smithereens. Enter the maintenance shaft to your left if you're extra cautious and peek out of the exits looking for any leftover Covenant. Any stragglers should be easy prey for such a hardened veteran of this level. You'll know everybody bad is dead when Cortana tells you to leave. Get back to the escape pod and you're done. Excellent work. You've just finished your first level on Legendary.

2. HALO

One quick thing before I start: I sometimes use directions like south or southwest. This is assuming the indicator on the assault rifle is pointing north, which I know it isn't. You'll just have to pretend. If you don't have an assault rifle, look for Threshold. It's the big planet in the sky. That way is north.

Beautiful, scenic Halo. It would make a lovely vacation spot if it weren't for the hordes of aliens bent on your destruction. Get ready to spatter their blood all over this picturesque countryside.

Arrival

When you begin the level, run out, fill up on goodies, and walk over near the bridge to trigger the dropship. Your escape pod cut a swath in the ground as it crashed. Follow the line of this smoking furrow back to the river. Soon two elites and six grunts will disgorge from their dropship. You should be out of their range, but still close enough to snipe the grunts with your pistol. Some of the grunts will head straight across the bridge, so plug them before they get safely to the other side. There's plenty of ammo at the crash site, so go through as many rounds as you want. Once absolutely all the grunts are dead, we're ready to take out the

4 elites. Two against one isn't really fair odds, so we aren't going to play fair either. We're going to get our feet a little wet and sneak around behind them. Hop into the river and head back to the waterfall. Once you're far from the keen eyes of the elites, turn right and hug the wall heading back west towards the escape pod. Keep yourself pressed against the wall until you reach the edge of the abyss, then follow the edge north out into the open in front of the escape pod. If all goes well, you should be staring at the backs of two elites who have no idea you're there. Now of course you should beat them to death. Quickly fill up your pistol, grab the secondary weapon of your choosing (I like the plasma rifle), scavenge for grenades, but don't get the health pack yet.

Cross the bridge and look out for any grunts that might have gotten through your hail of bullets. Two banshees will start making your life difficult right about now, but if you keep an eye on them and only run between cover when you're clear, they will turn around and just leave once you get far enough along. If you want to be extra thorough, use up all that assault rifle ammo on them. It will just go to waste otherwise. As you're making your way up the hill, stay relatively close to the right edge. When you're all the way up as far as the edge goes, turn left and look for a big rock against the wall to hide behind. There are four grunts and an elite frolicking in the rocks here. Peek out and snipe until all the grunts are dead, then ruthlessly slaughter the single remaining elite however you choose. A charged shot from a plasma pistol will drop his shields nicely and force him to run for cover. Don't forget the goodies back at the escape pod if you need anything at all before going on to the next area. Now you can get the health pack. After you're full, head out to save the marines.

You should get a checkpoint just before you start the next fight. Save and quit when you hit it. Checkpoints have a nasty way of creeping up in this area just after you've shot your last bullet and have no health left. If this happens, just turn the machine off and restart your game. This area is the hardest part of the level. There are six dropships that will land in rapid succession at three different landing sites. You'll get a checkpoint after you've taken out each dropship's complement of Covenant, but only save it if you've killed all the elites, most of the jackals and grunts, left the rest behind for the marines, and are already in range of the next dropship's landing site.

By the way if at any time the dropships get ahead of you and you begin to get absolutely overwhelmed, skip down past this section and read my strategy for when things get all screwed up. You can always run down the hill as well and wait around far from the action for about fifteen minutes. Foe Hammer will show up and all of the Covenant will mysteriously vanish. But that's no fun.

The first complement of troops has already engaged the marines by the time you arrive. There are two elites and two grunts on the right and four grunts on the left. Throw a frag grenade at the elites then take out the grunts on the left. They're easier to kill and they throw grenades. Throw another frag then follow up with the pistol. Hopefully, the elites on the right side will be busy with other things by now, so throw another grenade or two then clean up as necessary.

Scavenge as you run. Head immediately up the ramp over the structure, stopping to pick up the health pack and goodies at the top if you need them. Run a few feet down the ramp on the other side and drop down. Keep going and you should see the next dropship in front of you. There is some randomness to the number and type of Covenant on these dropships, but there are two elites, two jackals, and two grunts on board this one. Run to the right and approach the port (left if you're on the ship facing forward) side of the ship. As soon as the doors open, stick a plasma grenade to the elite furthest back in the ship nearest the gun. By the way plasma grenades stuck to the ship don't seem to do much, so make sure it's on the elite. If you're fast and accurate, you can stick a second to the other elite before they jump out of the ship. If not, throw another one where he'll land. Hopefully, they'll both be dead now. Toss another grenade at the jackals and move on. Don't worry about a few leftover grunts or jackals. The marines will take care of them. But grab any plasma grenades lying around.

5 The next landing site is past the escape pod on its right, past the pipe structure, and on a slight hill. There's a health pack on the way, but only get it if you really need it. This ship usually contains two elites and five grunts. Again the elites will come out on the port side near you, so stick plasma grenades to them or have some waiting for them when they land. Now run back to the first landing site. This is where dropship number four is touching down. Your path will take you through a pile of grunts from the other side of the dropship. Take a moment to kill any that are easy pickings and take their grenades if you're not full. Again leave the leftovers for the marines. The important thing is to keep moving.

Dropship #4 once again offers two elites and five grunts for your killing pleasure. And once again the elites will be coming out of the port side so run around the ship to the far side and stick it to them as usual. There are probably a few grenades lying around here from the first fight, so be generous with them. Hopefully there will still be some marines around to clean up after you, but even if there aren't, scavenge and move on. Paste a few grunts to the hillside on the way if they regain enough courage to attack you.

The fifth dropship lands back on the hill where number three landed. This one has three elites and four grunts. As before the elites are on the port side. Take them out as usual, but since there are three be extra generous with the grenades. If you've got a spare frag, chuck one towards the grunts. Scavenge at least one plasma grenade from the bodies then head on around to where the second dropship landed.

This is the last one. Usually it has a slightly smaller complement of nasties. Only one elite, one jackal, and four grunts. Stick a grenade to the elite then throw all you have left to kill off this group as quickly as possible.

Clean up by sniping at any surviving grunts from afar with your pistol or a needler. Use the buildings to sneak up close to (and preferably behind) any jackals that are still around and let 'em have it. Whew! If you've managed to save any marines, you rule.

Ok, now my strategy for when things get all screwed up. I can usually get to the fourth ship, but the fifth and sixth almost always require this plan. First locate a small walled-in area directly in the path of the escape pod. If it had kept sliding it would have run straight into one of its walls. There are two entrances to this place. One is very near the escape pod; the other is going to be our back door. Grab a needler if you can and head in. Once you're there, peek out the entrance towards the escape pod and snipe at grunts and jackals. Wait around for all the dropships to unload and go away while you're picking them off. You should be able to duck back in here and only very rarely will any Covenant follow or throw grenades close enough to hurt you. Once everybody is gathered, let them have it. Throw two or three grenades out at a time into their midst. Use up all your grenades and most of your pistol ammo. Keep sniping until elites are the only Covenant left. If you have a needler, use it now to hopefully reduce the number of elites. This next part requires a bit of luck. Sneak out the other entrance and run far, far away. If nobody sees you, you can now roam around freely on the other side of the main structure gathering supplies. Once you have a full needler and as many grenades as you can find, sneak back in the back way. They'll never know you left. If they do figure it out, it'll be too late. A full needler and a few grenades should do the trick, but you can always sneak out for more. Once you have cleansed the area, scavenge thoroughly then hop in the warthog for the next section. Keep your pistol and needler.

Once you're near the light bridge, you should stop back in the hall just on the edge of the enemy's visibility, where they still can't see you. There are four grunts to the left of the path and two elites, four jackals, and four grunts to the right. Kick the gunner out of his seat and lay waste to anything that moves with the chaingun. Once you're done, park your warthog back in the hall and move out towards the left where the grunts are hiding. These guys should be no problem. Snipe at them with your pistol. Move up onto the main road and look around for any jackals or grunts to snipe at on the other side of the room. Once they're gone, use up all the needles around on elites that peek out. If you're stealthy, park your warthog further in

6 on the right and using it as a distraction sneak around the blocks in this area and take out any remaining elites from behind. If subtlety isn't your strong suit, just run them over. Any leftovers should be easy to dispose of.

To activate the light bridge, you have to hit a switch that's up a ramp near where the elites were hanging out. Park the jeep at the base of the ramp so that the gunner has a good view. This is just in case an elite tries to follow you down. Move on up the ramp. There are three elites hiding out around the corner. This is a great place to practice bouncing frag grenades off the walls. Blow them up with glee. Hit the switch and keep on truckin'.

Reunion Tour

There is an escape pod here in the open with no bodies and no Covenant around. Go ahead and grab the health pack here. One very foolish marine has left his sniper rifle here for you. You'll definitely want to pick it up to complement your pistol. This is the first sniper rifle you get in the game, and it's a real beauty.

The first group of soldiers we'll be rescuing is not the one trapped underground. Even though that's probably where you're supposed to go, we're doing things out of order so as to maximize the effectiveness of the available sniper rifles. The soldiers that get first dibs are in the area with the half-buried structure. Head northeast from the escape pod across the river and look for a tunnel. When you come into this area you should see a crashed escape pod in front of you. Bring your warthog along, but leave it in the tunnel outside the area. Make sure the gunner has a good view of the entrance though. This will be important. Near the escape pod there should be two jackals wandering around. Get used to your new sniper rifle by sending a couple of rounds through their skulls. Including these first two jackals, there are four elites, five jackals, and three grunts here. Use your sniper rifle to take them all out from a safe distance. Aim for the head of course and keep your clip topped off. Red elites will always take at least two shots. One for their shields, one for their head. Everybody else should go down with one shot to the head or a couple to the body. Stay near the entrance because a dropship will land near the escape pod when most of the enemies in this area are killed. While it's flying overhead, switch out your sniper rifle for a more up close and personal weapon, but keep track of where you dropped it. There are three elites and three grunts on board. This part is fun, but can still be tough. When the dropship empties its troops, get their attention from the entrance to this area. Grenades always work well for attracting attention. When they come after you, fall back and lure them straight into your warthog. This should severely screw these Covenant and in the confusion, you can go back into the area and mop up any enemies that run away. As long as you kept your warthog out of the area, Foe Hammer will drop off another one for you. Pick up a passenger and gunner. Head up to where the marines were camped out. There should be a brand spanking new sniper rifle there for you by one of your fallen comrades. Keep it and your pistol. Don't forget to pick up any leftover rounds in your old rifle and to snag the health pack if you need it.

Take your hogs back out into the central area. Keep them together by taking turns driving short distances and move out into the open. A couple of banshees should show up and go for the jeep you're driving. Dodge around near the other jeep and the combined fire from two chainguns should make short work of these flyboys.

Now we get to rescue the marines trapped underground. There are two entrances to where we're going. One is way up in front of the escape pod on the right; the other is a little closer behind it on the left. Go to either one, but again leave your warthogs behind before actually entering the area. You get to kill 7 elites, 7 jackals, and 8 grunts before leaving here. A few jackals and grunts are underground and won't appear until the marines are triggered. From one entrance, snipe at anything you can see. Use the pistol if you can. You don't have that many bullets for the rifle. Once you've cleared out all of the nearby Covenant, move back and go around to the other entrance. Again leave your warthogs behind. From this vantage point, you should be able to take out most of the remaining Covenant with your sniper rifle and

7 pistol. You can even go back around to the other entrance again to snipe some more. When this area is close to empty, the marines underground will make a break for it. Switch your sniper rifle for something more practical and head underground into the fray.

Foe Hammer will come down to whisk away the survivors and bring you yet another warthog. Where does she get these things? Pick up a gunner and passenger. There's also a health pack in this area between the edge of the abyss and one of the entrances to the underground area. Don't forget to stock up before moving on.

The last group of marines is way on the other side of this whole region. It was to your right as you first drove out of the tunnel with the light bridge. This may take a while, but get all three of your hogs to the last area. There are again two entrances and it might take some exploring to find the one we're going to use. You'll have to go through a small tunnel and will end up coming out as far from the last crashed escape pod as possible. So if you go in and see some trees and a lot of space to your left and the escape pod relatively close by on your right, you're at the wrong one. Back up and go way around to your left.

Once you've found the right way in, park all three warthogs relatively close to this entrance, but out in the open enough so that they have a clear view of the area. Now comes the really fun part. Lure the Covenant back into firing range of the hogs, sit back and watch the carnage. You'll probably have to go hunt down a grunt or two, but after you kill them get back to the hogs. Dropships will start landing around them, and they will just annihilate the Covenant. Dropship after dropship will fall to their chainguns. There are four groups of Covenant that arrive not counting the ones originally here. The dropships will fire their main guns at the jeeps so try to distract them or drive the jeep they're firing at around to dodge. You don't want to lose a gunner, but of course taking their place can be loads of fun too. This last area should be a joke if you get all three warthogs in a good position. The last dropship does land rather far away, close to the crashed escape pod, so you may have to move your warthogs into a better position, but it shouldn't be a problem. Foe Hammer will soon come to take you and several thankful marines to safety. Sadly, you must now say good-bye to your fleet of jeeps. It's been fun watching so many Covenant die so quickly, but never fear. You'll get to kill many more on the Truth and Reconciliation.

3. The Truth and Reconciliation

This level is a sniper's dream. You start with 64 extra rounds for your trusty S2 AM Sniper Rifle (you can normally only carry 24). And if you play your cards right, you can go through 404 rounds by the end of the level. Playing on Legendary, you'll need every one of them.

Since we'll be relying on our sniper rifle throughout much of the level, I'll take a moment to impart some sniping tips. Things to do with your sniper rifle:

1. Be patient. You're not being timed. 2. Stay on the 2X zoom mode when you're looking for something to shoot. Zoom in further when you know exactly where a target's going to be. 3. Wait for enemies to wander into your sights. Resist the urge to chase them down with your crosshairs. 4. Keep your rifle fully loaded. Even grunts can take multiple hits to finish them off if you fail to hit them in the head. You don't want to have to reload when you've got a Covie on the ropes. 5. Always aim for the head. Well, unless you're shooting at hunters. Then aim for the orange meaty bits. 6. Hands and feet are fair game. Some enemies die if you shoot them in the toe. Alien physiology is strange indeed.

8 7. Run away. Getting hit knocks you out of zoom mode for a reason. Once you're discovered, go find another spot to shoot from. The Covenant will soon settle back down and start wandering if they don't see you. 8. If an enemy in a Shade is turned towards you, shoot below and to the side of the gunner's shield. You can hit them in the arm. 9. Red elites will always take at least two shots to kill. One for the shields, one through their head. If they're turned away from you, they're less likely to dodge the second shot.

Truth and Reconciliation

As the level begins, Cortana tells the marines to stay put while you move in to thin the ranks of the Covenant. There's a nice little rock with a crook in it you can snipe through against the wall on the right. Get comfy and start shooting. Take out the Shade gunner then hit the closest enemies first (or the ones most likely to see you) and work your way back. There are two elites, two jackals, and seven grunts here.

If you leave one grunt alive, you can stealthily move into this area far enough to trigger the next group of Covenant without getting your marines involved. Quickly retreat and you can continue to snipe from safety. One elite and two grunts will rush into the area. They are followed by four grunts, which are then followed by two jackals. You can get a checkpoint without the Covenant even seeing you.

Head slowly into the next area and you should see a few grunts and a jackal pacing around on top of the ledge in front of you. Sniping them will trigger an elite and a few more grunts to move into the open to the left of the ledge. Finish them off and move forward. Be careful here. There's an elite that likes to hide in the little cul-de-sac to the right at the base of the ledge. And there's a Shade near him on the ledge that's easy to miss.

There is a health pack here and two boxes of ammo for your sniper rifle. Don't pick up either of these yet. There are 16 rounds in each box, so unless you're 16 or more rounds from a full load, you'll end up losing some if you pick up a box. Even if you're just one round shy of a full load, you can still pick up a box of ammo. You'll just pick up 1 bullet while the other 15 disappear into thin air. So throughout this walkthrough, unless it's an emergency only pick up one box of ammo at a time, and only if you have 8 or less extra rounds for your rifle. You might have to do a lot of backtracking, but it's worth it.

Now that we have that squared away, there are a total of three elites, one jackal, and fourteen grunts in this area. You should still have one elite and about half the grunts to deal with, so move on ahead and take them out. Snipe the elite if you can then switch to your assault rifle. One of the few things the assault rifle is good for is mowing down gaggles of grunts, and there are many here to mow. Three of the grunts usually come from around the corner leading to the next area, so keep an eye out for them. You might want to switch your assault rifle out now for something more useful. I'd suggest the plasma rifle.

The next area includes two elites, four jackals, and nine or ten grunts for your sniping pleasure. There are two ways up here. One goes through the middle and the other curves around to the left. One of the elites should come wandering up to the ledge just to the left of the middle way up. Shoot him then head around to the left and you'll find two jackals to kill. Further around to the left you might be able to take out the other elite, but he's tricky. Snipe as much as you can from down below, going back and forth and sneaking around as necessary, then move up on the left.

This area gets messy. Once you move up the marines will engage the Covenant creating what seems like total chaos after all that sniping. Try to stay under cover and snipe as much as you can. Use the chaos to take out anyone in the Shades then go for the elite and jackals. Be

9 careful of the Shade tucked away in the far left corner. You'll be coming up near it, and it's almost always manned. To make matters worse, a Covenant dropship will soon arrive. It's carrying one elite, three jackals, and one grunt. To make matters better, there's an active camouflage tucked away in the trees. Grab it if things start to get really nasty. Then run around and bash things in the back. Another bit of advice that holds for the entire game, but is especially relevant here, is to ignore the marines. While it is an awful lot of fun to rush in with them and try to save as many as you can, it will make you're job considerably easier to hang back and use the confusion they create to snipe at some of the nastier enemies.

A narrow corridor leads to the final outdoor area of this level. If you move towards it, two elites and three or four grunts will rush out to greet you. Trigger them from the ledge above. This will make your job of raining grenades on them that much easier. These are the first enemies in the level you can't really snipe, so if grenades don't work you'll have to vent as much plasma as you can on them as they run around to get to you. By now you'll probably need that health kit and a box of sniper rifle ammo, so head back and get them.

As you move ahead, you'll see one last rock against the wall on the right before the corridor opens up into the final area. It's just perfect for peeking around to snipe and will be your home away from home until you board the Truth and Reconciliation.

The first group of enemies already waiting for you includes one elite, two jackals, and eight or nine grunts. There are no less than five Shades here for them to hop in as well, so check them often. One of the Shades is sitting on the high ledge to your left as you enter this area. It's easy to overlook, so be careful.

Move cautiously forward, stopping near cover, eliminating anything that comes into view. If at any point you get overwhelmed, fall back into the narrow corridor behind your trusty rock. The Covenant won't pursue you past here.

Once you send this group to Covie heaven, the battle really gets going. Multiple waves of enemies will come down the lift. Each one is comprised of an elite, a couple of jackals, and half a dozen grunts give or take a few. At one point a Covenant dropship will show up and drop off some jackals and grunts on the far side of the gravity lift. They will soon be followed by more waves from the ship.

As each wave appears, get their attention. Shooting at them works well for this. Fall back to your rock and wait for them to follow. They'll end up near you in a big bunch just asking for grenades. Oblige them then snipe any leftovers.

On the far side of the gravity lift are a few dead marines who have sacrificed themselves to leave four more boxes of ammo and a health pack for you. You'll definitely want to save this health pack until you're ready to board the ship, but you should grab the sniper rifle ammo if you can get to it. A good time to make a break for it is when the Covenant dropship flies in.

The last Covenant you will face here are two hunters, the first you face in the game. In case you don't already know, one shot from a pistol or sniper rifle into the soft orange flesh underneath their armor will kill them instantly. The easiest way to get a shot in is to sneak around and shoot them in the back. Another method is to get close enough to them so that they stop firing their fuel rod gun and charge you. You can see their guns glowing as they prepare to fire, so dodge at the appropriate moment. Getting close to them shouldn't be a problem. Then either sidestep and shoot them in the back after they charge past or back up and shoot them in the tummy as they swing their shield up and hopefully miss you. Another important thing to note when dealing with hunters is that they always come in pairs. If you rush them, try to keep them in a line so one is always behind the other. That way you only have to deal with one at a time. After they are taken care of, grab the health pack, fill up your sniper rifle, grab a plasma pistol and get ready for some real fighting.

10 Into the Belly of the Beast

You are about to get your ass handed to you on a platter. Many consider this to be the hardest battle in the entire game. Almost a dozen waves of enemies are about to pour out of those doors. But there is a brief lull before the storm, so acclimate yourself to your new surroundings. There is an active camouflage and a health pack in one corner of the room. They will come in very handy.

The first door will flicker and open usually revealing a stealth elite who can quickly decimate your ranks. Pour on the plasma in his direction. Getting hit partially negates his active camouflage, making him visible enough for your myopic marines to lend you a hand. Immediately the rest of the waves will begin to give you a warm welcome.

The order of these waves is random, but there are two types. They will either produce a few jackals and several grunts or they will produce a few jackals, several grunts, and a golden elite commander. This guy can go through your marines in seconds. Either way, when you see a door flickering move towards it. As it opens toss a grenade in. If there's a gold elite among their ranks, fire a charged plasma shot at him. Concentrate all your fire on him until he goes down. Stick a plasma grenade to him if he's ever stunned or against an obstacle. If there isn't a commander, toss a second grenade deep into the hall. Follow up as quickly as possible, using charged plasma shots to take out each jackal's shield. Switch out your plasma pistol if it gets low. You'll be going through a lot of ammo here.

Eventually the waves will probably get ahead of you. You won't be there to toss a grenade while the Covenant are clustered and they'll spread out across the room. Hang on as long as possible then pick up the active camouflage. It takes a second to fully conceal you, so you actually want to wait until the moment before the last possible moment. Once you're invisible, move as fast as possible positioning yourself behind Covenant and whacking them. The elite commanders are your first priority of course, but hit any target that presents its backside to you. Throw grenades, but don't shoot. Generally just make the most of your time.

By the time your active camouflage runs out you should be in much better shape. All the waves should be in the open and nearly all the elite commanders should be dead. The last part of this strategy requires access to the hallways, so use the last bit of invisibility to duck in. If you can manage it, go into the hallways leading to the next area, not the darkened dead-ends. From here you can switch to your sniper rifle and go back to slowly whittling down their numbers. Move through the halls and shoot from different entrances to keep them on their toes. If an elite commander comes in after you, hit him with a charged plasma shot. If he continues after you, he'll be really close, so switch back to your sniper rifle and send a few rounds through him. Slowly but surely you should be able to finish off the last of the waves.

Once you think you have control of the area, two hunters will show up. You should still be in the hallways and have some rounds left in your sniper rifle. Move back and forth between the entrances to try and get behind them. If you have to move out into the open, use the same tactics you did for the last two hunters. Let them charge you then back up and shoot them in the gut or sidestep and shoot them in the back. After the initial assault, these guys should be easy. Now you really have control of the area. Scavenge through the whole place.

The door to the next area has opened now and two grunts are waiting for you behind it. Dispose of them. Going around this next corner has the annoying consequence of triggering a small wave of enemies to appear behind you. So each time you go around to fire off a few shots, you'll have to go back and kill off either two grunts or a jackal. This shouldn't be a problem if you're aware they're coming. Because of them though, I find it easier to use charged plasma shots and a needler here. Be careful to not lose track of your sniper rifle in the confusion. There will be two elites and several grunts here. By the time you're done the ground should be littered with weapons. Pick up your sniper rifle and keep your plasma pistol.

11 As you step out into the next area you'll see that you're on the upper level of a small hangar. There are two elites and four jackals on the ledge with you. Since you have a pile of weapons behind you just keep sending charged plasma shots towards them. Use any cover available and follow up whenever possible to finish them off. Keep moving around and going through those plasma pistols. With your height advantage, you can snipe at any Covenant down below. Plasma rifles work well at this range also. And don't be afraid to use up those plasma pistols. They'll go to waste if you don't.

Once you're done playing, move into the halls leading down to the lower level. There are two grunts and two jackals ahead. Use charged plasma shots to take them all down. If you're lucky the elite further on will have his back turned to you. Be careful and you can take him out from behind.

Out on the lower floor of the hangar, right in front of you now, should be a health pack and three boxes of ammo for your sniper rifle. Two by the body on the right, one on the left. From the hall you should be able to pick off almost everyone in this area with your sniper rifle. Move back upstairs every once in a while to get a different angle. Every time you get down to 8 extra rounds for the rifle, run out and pick up another box of ammo. Once the initial enemies are cleared away, there will be a brief pause before more waves of Covenant move in. Wipe them out as you did the previous enemies, moving back and forth between levels for a change of scenery.

Move into the next set of halls around a corner or two and you come to a long hall with two dead-ends to the left. There are two jackals, three grunts, and an elite lurking around here. The elite likes to hide in one of the dead-end corridors, so be sneaky and snipe him for around the corner. Moving ahead around the next corner will trigger a load point. This causes a door to close behind you, sealing off the first part of the ship. So go back and take anything you can, especially sniper rifle ammo, before moving on. I know I said not to pick up a box if doing so will waste ammunition, but I'll make an exception this time.

The next area will take quite a while to clear out. It's a large three-story hangar capable of holding two Covenant dropships. There are four boxes of rifle ammo and a health pack on the far side of the first bay and four more and an over shield on the far side of the second bay. That's 128 sniper rounds you have access to, so snipe away. One elite and a few jackals and grunts will snipe back at you from the second story, so taking them out should be a priority. Work through the ranks of the enemy until you've cleared out everyone here. Multiple waves of bad guys will come through the doors to make you're life difficult, but it can sometimes take a lot of wandering to trigger them. Always keep track of the door you used to originally enter the area though. You'll want to head back there as soon as a new wave arrives. Sometimes there are Covenant coming out of this door as you're trying to get in it, but a grenade should clear the way nicely. Once you're safely inside, switch back to sniping until the room is once again clear.

Can you guess what the last wave of enemies is? That's right, hunters! There's ample cover and several ways to sneak around behind them. Go to it.

Move into the next set of halls and clear out the grunts and elite lurking around the corner here with your sniper rifle. I would advise grabbing the over shield now. There are a couple of stealth elites just ahead and they can be a real pain. You're next health pack is far away, so be careful. Snipe the grunts and elites if you can distinguish where they are, but you'll probably have to switch to your secondary weapon. Run in and spray plasma until you find where they're hiding. They'll retreat all the way out onto the second story ledge if you let them.

Once you're ready for the second story, peek out and continue to snipe. Don't forget about your grenades. If there are too many to peek out and snipe at, they're just perfect for some grenades. Once they're cleared out, move ahead.

12 Half way along this ledge, a group of Covenant will suddenly appear behind you and move to attack. Rather than getting caught between a rock and a hard place, just hop down to the floor below. The fall won't cause any permanent damage. Now you have those Covenant goons in a much better position. Move back through the halls and up to the second story. They should be easy prey for your mad sniping skills.

At the end of the second story ledge is a closed door. There are many Covenant on the other side, so open it and bounce a few frag grenades deep into their midst. Retreat and fire at any that come after you. Repeat until the way up is free from worry. Only a few more grunts and jackals and one lonely elite stand between you and the third story.

Moving out onto the third story ledge and peering to your right through your scope you should a door opening the way for an elite and his grunty cohorts. A few well-placed shots will take care of them.

As you move around the ledge be careful. After you get half way along the far side two groups of Covenant will show up. One from in front, and one from behind. Look for them to show up on your motion tracker. Fighting a two front war is strategic suicide, so we're going to get the heck out of here. Look down and you'll see a platform jutting out on the second story below you. Fall down onto it and you're safe. Go all the way down and grab ammo if you need to then move back up to the third story. The Covenant probably didn't even see you, so they should be easy to exterminate.

You might think the way is clear after all that. Sadly, you'd be wrong. As you move to the last door on the third story out of this area, yet another congregation of Covenant will come from both sides to end your intrusion. You know what to do. Drop down, grab ammo if necessary, go back up, and snipe them. Finally you're done with that accursed hangar. Well, for now.

There is a much needed health pack waiting for you ahead along with 48 more sniper rounds. They're tucked away to the left just before the control room. The control room has three entrances, so feel free to move around. Start off by sniping an elite to wake everybody up then go through the ranks. There are a couple of elites, one jackal, and several grunts in here. To top it all off there's a gold elite commander as well. Keep a plasma pistol handy in case he comes after you. In these narrow halls a charged shot followed by a few sniper rounds will take him out nicely. You won't get a checkpoint until you take out the grunts lurking on the other side of the door out of here. Just keep sniping then keep on moving.

The halls ahead hold a few grunts and three pairs of jackals. You can snipe them all if you're careful. There's an empty brig off to the left, but don't worry about that yet. Make sure these halls are totally cleared out and find the second brig where Keyes is being held. You can peek in and snipe any grunts around. There are also two stealth elites and an elite commander on guard. Now you can go back into the empty brig. There's a health pack in a cell and an active camouflage hidden away in the back. Grab it and run as fast as you can to free Keyes. You should have plenty of time to sneak in and beat everyone down. Now just hit the switch and you're set.

Shut Up and Get Behind Me... Sir

Yay, Keyes is free! Don't listen to him. He's really very happy to see you. Now you just have to get him out alive. Almost immediately two stealth elites will come in, so have a grenade waiting for them, snipe them, or just hose them down with plasma. There are two jackals waiting out in the halls too. One of the now open cells has one last box of sniper rifle ammo and a health pack for you. Grab them when you need them.

Move out and head down the hall. An elite and some grunts are waiting off to the left, so bounce a frag grenade or two around for them. Sniping is a little difficult since the marines

13 rush ahead so often, so just rush ahead with them shooting lots of charged plasma shots and throwing lots of grenades.

There are a few more groups of Covenant ahead. Snipe if you can then follow up with grenades and charged plasma shots. Try to take the brunt of the enemy fire. You'll need as many marines alive as possible for the upcoming skirmish.

When you get back to the control room, you find that there are now three stealth elites guarding it. From the doorway you can carefully deduce where one must be and fire a couple of rounds through one of them. The other two will come straight for you, so take careful aim and send two more rounds through another. Keep backing up and hose down the last as he closes in on you.

Instead of going ahead into the control room, run back into the halls you came from. After Keyes and Cortana have their little chat, a slew of grunts will appear and rush the control room. If you're safely away, you can peek back in and snipe a few before your marines rush in to finish the job. There are a ton of grunts to go through here, so lob your frag grenades to help if you have any left.

You have one last fight before you're done with the level. There may be sniper ammo left by the control room, so stock up with whatever is around. You have to get back out into that annoying hangar one last time. Since this is the last fight of the level, use up everything you've collected. There's a pretty standard assortment of Covenant here, so you and your marines shouldn't have too much trouble. Just keep pouring on the hurt and don't let them retreat and regroup.

Once they're taken care of, you're ready to hijack your ride home. Now you can breathe a deep sigh of relief. It does get easier from here on out.

4. The Silent Cartographer

If you manage to finish Truth and Reconciliation on Legendary, The Silent Cartographer will seem like basic training. Not only is this level relatively short and easy, but you can also skip whole sections of it. That said, it's one of my favorite levels to play. It has a beautiful island setting contrasted nicely with intricate alien architecture. You get seven overshields, an active camouflage, three warthogs, and even a rocket launcher to play with. It sure beats scrounging for plasma pistols on the purple people eater. But enough digression. Here's how to beat it.

The Silent Cartographer

The first battle of the level is totally optional. If you don't like the way your fellow marines smell, just leave them to die. Turn around, go the opposite direction as everyone else, and follow the beach half way around the island, keeping the ocean on your left. Stop when you see a flipped warthog in front of you and skip the next few pages of this walkthrough. If you decide to stay, you're safest bet is probably to hang back and let the marines stir up trouble while you snipe with your pistol. But you're not going to leave and you're not going to play it safe. You're going to personally kill as many Covenant as possible and save those marines! There are two grunts to your left, two in the middle, and two on the right as you hit the beach. Lob a grenade at the ones in the middle, switch to your pistol, and go for the ones on the left. Zoom in and mercilessly gun down these two grunts. Don't worry about ammo, there's plenty of it around. Reload while you run towards their position. Switch out your assault rifle for the plasma pistol one of them just dropped. Charge it up and head back towards the carnage. Behind the first line of grunts is a single elite. He should be concentrating on marines so hit him with that charged plasma shot. Follow up with your pistol. Aim for the head and keep shooting until he's beyond dead. Reload. Use the energy shield as cover and lob a grenade

14 into the next group of Covenant. There's an elite and three grunts here that need to go down. Send a charged plasma shot at the elite, then follow up with the pistol as usual. Help the marines out with the remaining grunts. When you're sure they're all dead, throw every grenade you have at the next group of Covies. You may need to switch out plasma pistols before moving on. There are two elites and two jackals left to kill, and they're the nastiest foes out here. Send as many charged plasma shots as you can towards them. Approach on the left and try to stay ahead of the marines. Run around behind the Covenant. Try to trap them between you and the marines. If they go after the marines, bash them from behind. If they go after you, send a charged plasma shot into them and follow up with a melee attack. Keep hitting until they're all very, very dead. Using this strategy (and with a lot of luck), I have saved all six marines. Hopefully you will have saved two to accompany you in your new warthog. And remember to come back here whenever your gunner and passenger die to pick up new ones. Why Foe Hammer didn't wait for a warthog before dropping you off in hostile territory I'll never know. At least you have one now. Head out, keeping the ocean on your right.

Again you have an optional battle ahead of you. It's not really necessary to stop and smell the flowers on the upcoming side of the island. You could just speed past these guys, but that won't stop us from taking a moment to kill everything we can find here. There are seven jackals to face at first. Plow into them as fast as you can. Make one pass, swinging the back end around into a couple of them, then take off back towards safety. Now stay just on the edge of their range. Let the gunner work if he's firing. If he's not, swing back in for another pass or just snipe with your pistol. Once all the jackals on the ground are history, ditch the hog and sneak up on foot. The guys on the rock can be tricky. Keep moving around until you can get a good shot. Be patient and keep sneaking around the base of the rock until they've been eliminated.

In the distance ahead of you, two elites and six grunts are waiting. Again you want to drive in and run over a few Covenant while your passengers dispatch a few more. Quickly drive away before they can organize themselves and fight back. Give yourself time to recharge then hit them again. The elites will tend to head for cover since your gunner has been spraying the area with bullets. After the grunts are paste, you may have trouble hitting these guys with the hog. Try using the rocks as cover to sneak a plasma grenade onto one or unload a needler on them.

Past these goons is the entrance to the tunnels where the cartographer is located. You'll have to deal with these Covenant eventually. It might as well be now. The path splits here. One way continues against the cliff towards the structure. You can go that way later. We want to take the path on the right. It leads back to the beach. Take out the three jackals down here on the ground. They're near the overshield. Let your gunner go to town, or just run them over if you don't have one.

There are three elites and five grunts waiting just outside the entrance. You can access the platform they're on three different ways. If you're on the beach facing inland, the first way is to the left. You can go back up the path you just came from and take the other fork. You can also walk up the side of the hill on the right and get up that way as well. The last way is through a tunnel far around to the right. The easiest way to take them out is to drive your warthog up there and make roadkill out of the lot of them. Or if you prefer a method that's gentler on the marines that are hopefully still riding with you, try this. Go up on the left and find some nice cover to snipe from. Take out any grunts you can. Head back down below the platform and come up on the right. Snipe any you couldn't get to before. Once all the grunts are taken care of, you have to be sneakier. Pop up on the left and get the attention of the elites. Quickly, sneak back down and come up on the right. If you're really slick, you can catch them with their backs turned and melee one of them. A bit safer tactic instead of meleeing is to stick a plasma grenade to them. As soon as you hit one, drop back down below the platform. Repeat as necessary if this tactic is working out for you. If not needlers also work well here. Whatever. As long as they die.

15 Moving further in you'll find the entrance itself guarded by four more elites. That's a lot of elites, so you may need the overshield here. A couple of them will wander around patrolling. Keep hidden right beside the entrance and melee them in the back when the opportunity presents itself. Send several grenades in towards the back of the hall. That should take care of another one or two. Keep moving further in the hall. Needlers and charged plasma shots will both work well here, but keep your pistol as the back-up weapon to finish them off. If you're having a real tough time, try driving in with your warthog. The gunner will tear these guys up at close range. Of course they'll tear you up to, but it's a lot of fun.

The last group down here consists of an elite and four grunts. The elite commander quickly slips behind the closing security door. They're in a tight corridor, so peek in and throw a grenade or two. These guys should be easy. Since you can proceed no further, you'd better head back out, grab your warthog, and drive around to the next side of the island.

If you turned around at the beginning and left your comrades to the carrion birds, you can tune back in now. Either way you go, you'll soon see a flipped warthog and some dead soldiers in front of you. Head to this warthog and look towards the center of the island. You should see a pack of Covenant behind a fallen tree. There are seven jackals, with an elite and four grunts to back them up. Don't let them see you, but take your warthog, turn it around so the ocean is on your left, and drive away. Put a bit of distance between you and them then turn around. There's a large hill here that overlooks the enemy position. The side the Covenant are on is a sheer face, but the side you're facing makes a nice ramp for your warthog. Drive up and off of it. You should land right in the middle of the jackals. Spin around a couple of times to grind them all into the dirt then speed off before they can regroup and start shooting back. Repeatedly barge through then go recharge. Each time you go in try to run over at least one Covenant then get away quickly before you take any real damage. The ramp is also a great sniping position if you like to pick them off from a distance. Stop when there is only the one elite left. He'll often be found hiding behind the tree blocking your route to the next area. Park near him and your gunner will keep him nicely pinned behind cover. Throw a grenade around behind him or fill him with needles or shoot him with whatever's handy.

You don't actually have to leave your warthog and gunner behind now. If you head to the left of the tree at just the right angle and with a lot of speed, you'll pop right through. I'm going to assume though that you don't have the warthog at your disposal from here on though. There are two little groups here consisting of an elite and four or five grunts. They should be pretty easy. Send a lot of charged plasma shots their way. Plasma pistols should be littering the ground near your previous engagement. Take on the elites after the grunts are gone and after you hit them with a good shot to take out their shields. They'll hide behind cover allowing you to get close enough to stick a grenade to them. Grab a good full plasma pistol after you're done and move on to the hunters.

You should be familiar with these guys from Truth and Reconciliation. Just run right up to them, but try to keep them in a line so you only have to deal with one at a time. Their shots are infrequent and easy to dodge, so it shouldn't be a problem getting close. Once they charge, quickly back up and shoot them in the gut once it's exposed. There are two overshields here. Go ahead and grab one. There isn't anything too nasty ahead, but they'll just go to waste otherwise. Oh, and try to save one of the health packs to pick up on the way out.

As soon as you dispatch these guys, hurry to the other side of this area where five jackals will be moving in to attack you. If you're quick you can catch them all in a bunch and take them out with a grenade or two. If not, use a charged plasma shot to take out their shield, then shoot them with whatever's handy.

Past them is yet another fight. Plasma pistols should again be readily available, so use them up. There are three jackals hiding in the rocks on the right and an elite with five grunts out in the open. Find some good cover and pour on the plasma. You've probably noticed by now that the trunks of the trees on this island extend out farther than they seem. You have to peek far

16 out sometimes to get your shots around the edge. Eliminate the grunts first. Then move in after giving the elite a good shot in the kisser. Finish him off with a few shots and a melee attack. The remaining jackals should be easy enough. Drop their shields with a charged shot, then beat them to death or gun them down.

Further around the building six or seven grunts will stumble out into the open in two groups. You know what to do. Peek out and shoot til they all be dead. Just past them are three, yes, three overshields tucked away in this inconvenient little corner of the island. Really makes me wish you could kick them down to the ground below. It's not really worth trekking all the way back here to get them later. Leave them for now.

Move into the structure and down the ramp. As you move into the next room, two hunters will come out to greet you. Quickly run and hide in one of the little cubicles to the side. If you're fast, they will fail to notice you and one at least should be easy pickings. Be careful of the cramped quarters, but run up and deal with the other as usual. Shoot him in the gut after he swings his shield at you and misses.

Now would be a good time to pick up one of those overshields. Then go shut off the security system to move on to the next phase of the level.

It's Quiet

There are five stealth elites now in the room where you killed the hunters and they can be very nasty. The easiest way to eliminate them is to run as fast as possible straight through this room. Your overshield should keep you alive. Once you're safely on the ramp leading out of here, you can peek in and pick them off much more easily. They'll bunch up together just inside the door. Take a moment if you wish to gloat over the pile of bodies.

Once you're back in the fresh air you'll see a friendly dropship has crashed below you. You could just drop down here. There's a good spot off to the right near the overshields. But I go the long way around so I can kill everything. One fun thing to do here before you go is to pick up a needler and get as close to those far away grunts as possible. The structure you just exited extends out over the beach and you can walk out pretty far onto it. From here you can do some maximum range needling and take out most of the grunts.

Wandering back to where you first met hunters on this level, you'll see a Covenant ship dropping off a present for you. Five jackals. Carefully shield yourself from the bulk of them while you work on one at a time. Drop his shield with a charged plasma shot, switch to the pistol, zoom in, and put half a clip into him. When there's only one left, just run up and smash his head in. Fill up on goodies here then go back to the warthog you left behind.

Cruise back to the beach and take a left around the island to find the crashed dropship. If you just fell down here, you can sneak up and make off with the goods pretty easily. You might have to kill a few jackals on the way out, but you don't really have to fight these guys. If you drive in you'll have to do a little more work. There are four jackals in a group in front of you and four more on the other side of the hill. On top there are five grunts. If you're a good driver, you can make roadkill out of both groups of jackals on the ground. One will probably retreat up the hill, so get out and go beat him down in person. If you're not such a good driver, your chaingunner and passenger will do most of the work for you. If you've used up all your marines, you can use the chaingun yourself from long range to take these guys out. Use short bursts, aim for the hole in their shields, and get down whenever a plasma shot comes at you. The grunts on top could be ignored, but I hate these guys so move up the hill and look for their little heads peeking out. Zoom in with your pistol and pop 'em. The jackals on the far side are easier to eliminate from the top of the hill. Rain charged plasma shots down on them until their bodies litter the ground.

17 Now you can claim your prize. The M19 SSM Rocket Launcher! Fill up on goodies here. You should have a full pistol, full health, and be just one rocket shy of a full SPNKR. There's even another warthog for you if you dropped down from the ledge. Move out. We're headed back around the island to the security door we opened to find the cartographer.

As a side note, I keep the rocket launcher throughout this walkthrough, but rarely use it. I will detail strategies that do not require it so that you may use it whenever you get to a spot that's tough for you. Basically if these tactics aren't working, try blowing everything up. You do have nine rockets to work with, and you'll only need a few of them following this walkthrough. The rest are your playthings.

Now turn around so the ocean is on your left and follow the beach back around until you see a couple of purple Covenant boxes littering the beach. This is where you must enter to find the cartographer. If you dealt with these folks already, there will only be three more jackals up the path on the left, which should be easy to run over or smack around, and two hunters on the platform. The rockets you've just been given were meant for these guys, but by now you know a much less wasteful way to eliminate this threat. Save the rockets for later. It's especially important here to keep both hunters in a line so they can't both shoot at you. They have a lot of open space to work with and can be very annoying. Get them to swing their shields out of the way and plug 'em in the gut.

If you took the short route then you haven't been here yet. There will be a ton of Covenant waiting for you. Interestingly enough you won't have to face all the original Covenant that were here plus the new batch. Evidently a few from the first group go on their lunch break before you arrive, but it's still a hell of a battle. Just keep barreling through with your warthog to whittle down their numbers. Then follow the same strategy I outlined above for the folks who came here first.

Move into the complex and through the security door. Head to the right and gaze upon the depths of the shaft.

Shafted

Moving along, you'll come across an elite hard at work on his big purple box thingy. Hit him from behind then head half way up the ramp to your right.

One or two grunts will be patrolling the upper floor. If you wait patiently on the ramp, they will wander over near you, turn around and expose their backside to you as they walk away. Make sure to wait for the second one if there are two, then run up and hit them from behind. There's also often a sleeping grunt up here so take him out while he's snoozing.

Head back down the ramp and take an immediate right through the door. Again there are one or two patrolling grunts and often one sleeping. Peek around the corner and wait for the second one to pass. They patrol around the central structure in the room. They also like to turn when they reach the corner nearest to you and look in your direction before proceeding, so be careful. Run out and bash the second one after it turns away. The first will turn around after it reaches the next corner so move fast. Duck behind the central structure after you strike so it doesn't see you. Use your motion tracker to notice when he moves on, then go for the sleeping grunt. Retreat to the door and wait for the first grunt to return. He should be easy to sneak up on this time. He uses the same pattern as before.

Now you should be left with one elite down below, one grunt on the ledge above him, and possibly another near him. Find a good sniping spot out of view of the elite and send one round through each grunt's head in turn. The elite will be alerted, but will have no idea where you are. You should be able to use the upstairs catwalk to sneak around and pistol-whip him.

18 Now that the area is yours, switch out your rocket launcher for a plasma pistol. There are three jackals in the hall ahead. Empty a plasma pistol on them. Just keep sending charged shots down the ramp. Throw a grenade down too. If they get into the room with you, run up and smack them then go back to gunning down the ones in the hall. After they're toast, pick up a more fully charged plasma pistol.

The next area has two pairs of jackals roaming about and two hunters blocking the way forward. As you enter the room, you'll see a hall extending to your left and one in front of you overlooking the shaft. Move into the one ahead of you and look to your left. You should see a narrow corridor that leads to the interior of this room. This short, narrow corridor is a beautiful place. Only very rarely will Covenant follow you in here. You'll use it now on the way down and again on the way back out. Send charged plasma shots at the jackals from a distance then follow up with your pistol. Grenades as well work wonders against jackals. Hang out near the corridor and use it for cover whenever necessary. There's a pile of goodies here, but save it for after you face the hunters. These guys should be easy. Try to get the two of them in a line so they can't both fire at you. Dodge up to them then backpedal and shoot them in the gut when they charge. Go fill up on good stuff and retrieve your rocket launcher.

Follow the path down to a mysteriously vacant area. As you enter this place, the exits are directly beneath you. You could just hop down, but wander around for a moment to familiarize yourself with your surroundings. This place will be crawling with jackals later.

There are two doors out of this room. The one on the left leads to an active camouflage. Go down and take a look. Memorize where it is. We'll be getting it later. The one on the right leads down a ramp to a long hallway with three grunts at the end. Zoom in right at head level for these shorties and nail them. There are six more grunts and an elite on the lower floor. Move ahead and look down. Just before you expose yourself on the ledge ahead, you should see little triangular openings next to the floor. Through the one on the left you'll see several grunts milling about. Crouch down, zoom in, and start shooting. After you've sent many of them to an early grave, the rest will retreat down a ramp overlooking the shaft. This leaves the room they were in nicely vacant for you. Notice there are four ways in and out of this room. If you're still standing on the catwalk facing the center of the room, there's one behind you, the one you came from. The Covenant retreated through another. It's to your left, and you can see the shaft through it. To your right and in front of you there's a ramp that leads down to two more elites. And to your right behind you another ramp leads up to the room with the active camouflage. Take a moment to look around the theater and familiarize yourself with the location of all emergency exits.

Drop down and go to the fallen bodies of the most recently deceased grunts. Grab a needler and drop the rocket launcher for now. Peek out into the shaft and unload your needler on the elite and grunts that retreated. Keep firing until the grunts at least are all definitely dead. The elite might be trickier. A charged plasma shot will send him behind cover. While he's hidden you can creep up next to him and drop a grenade or run around and blow his head off. There's an overshield here behind cover, but wait until after you've dealt with the next two elites before snatching it.

These guys cover each other very well. You could always get their attention from one direction then run back into the previous room and use another exit to get around behind them and stick a grenade to their back. Or you can just toss several grenades into the hall with them. Unloading a couple of clips of needles works well too. You have many options. Try them all. Just as long as they die.

Whew. At last you can activate the cartographer, grab that overshield and your rocket launcher and get ready to blast your way out of here.

From the cartographer, turn around and head back over the bodies of the two elites. Follow the ramp and head straight through the next room. The next ramp up should lead you to the

19 room with the active camouflage. It's on the ledge above you with a few jackals. Lob a couple of frag grenades up there to dislodge them. They should run screaming. Take a moment to read ahead and plot your course back out of here. You don't want to get lost while you're invisible.

Now comes the fun part. You can get the active camouflage from down here. Walk into the middle of the room and face the exit. Since you dutifully memorized where the active camouflage is, you'll know the spot to jump to. The idea here is to grab it through the wall. Run up and hit the peak of your jump as your left side is bumping into the corner of the wall. If you're lucky, you'll become invisible.

Make the most of your time while invisible. Run as fast as you can back out of here. Head to the far side of the next room and go under the catwalk. Turn around and head back up the ramp and down the long hall. There might be some jackals on ramp spiraling up to the previously vacant room. Try to get behind them and smack them silly.

Before you grenaded the guys squatting on the active camouflage, there were seven jackals in this group. Hopefully you got at least two with the blast. That leaves five to take out now. They should all be hanging out near the door where you emerge. Hit them from behind or stick grenades to them. On the other side of the room are another five jackals. These guys suck. Use a rocket if you can get two with one shot. Just hitting them from behind is still the preferred method of execution, but you'll be running out of time very soon. Hopefully when you become visible, only stragglers will remain. Switch out your rocket launcher for a plasma pistol and take them out as usual.

On the ledge leading out of this godforsaken pit is an elite and five more grunts. These guys have a clear shot and will nail you if you dawdle down below them. With the abundance of plasma pistols nearby, your choice should be obvious. Charged plasma shots for the lot of them. Save the elite for last. Drop his shields then run around and fill him full of lead.

Remember you always have that rocket launcher if any of these goons are giving you a particularly hard time.

The next foes you will encounter are four more jackals on the next ramp leading up. Peek out and down them with charged plasma shots as usual. Take a moment to move your rocket launcher to your current location and grab a new plasma pistol. I know. It's tedious lugging it around. But you never know when you'll need it.

Move on up the ramp and across the interior of the next room. Hide yourself in that wonderful little hallway located in the far right corner of the wall. Use it and abuse it. There are three jackals (you're probably really starting to hate these guys), four grunts, and one elite. Take out the jackals on the inside first with a barrage of charged shots. Then use their pistols on the grunts roaming about in the exterior of the room. The elite shouldn't be a problem. Drop his shields with some charged plasma and he'll go hide. You can then sneak behind him or just run around and dump a clip of bullets into him. Scavenge the pile of goodies nearby and go retrieve your rocket launcher.

The next room again has around three jackals, four grunts, and an elite to offer. Open the door into the room and look through. You should see jackals on the upper floor and grunts down below. Zoom in with your pistol and give 'em hell. You should be full of ammo and don't have much left to use it on. And since you're nearing the end of the level, you can start to use those rockets you've been conserving. As long as you save one for the last fight.

Once a number of grunts and jackals have perished, they will retreat into the smaller room to the side. Move on in, head up the ramp to the upper floor, and follow it around. If there are any jackals left, run up and punch them or toss a grenade at their feet. Ahead to the right,

20 you'll get a good view of the remaining Covenant. Rain bullets and grenades down on them until only the elite remains. Retreat, hop down, run around, and sneak up behind him. You may have to run back and forth a few times, but you should be able to sneak up behind him or at least stick a plasma grenade to him.

Now all that stands between you and sunshine is the elite commander. This guy is actually very easy to kill. Peek around the corner and stick a plasma grenade to him. That's it. Oh, and run like hell. He's gonna be pretty ticked off.

Once he's reduced to a smoldering carcass, you're seemingly free to waltz out of the building. Stay vigilant though. There's one last fight and they'll catch you totally off guard if you forget about them. Six stealth elites block your way to the Pelican. Peek out down the last hall to freedom and fire off a couple of bullets to get their attention. Quickly retreat and they'll pile up in the hall just around the corner. If you saved any rockets this is a load of fun. Sidestep out and shoot one right at their feet. With any luck, you'll catch almost all of them in the blast. They go flying. Any leftovers should be easy to gun down. If you have no rockets left, there are always grenades. But they aren't quite as satisfying.

Hop into the dropship and congratulate yourself. You just decimated an entire island full of Covenant inside and out.

5. Assault on the Control Room

Assault on the Control Room is the longest level in the game. You've made it through some pretty rough battles in the past, but AotCR has a whole ton of really nasty encounters in store for you. I hope you've built up some calluses on those thumbs. On the bright side, this level includes every single vehicle and nearly every weapon in the game for you to play with. Have fun.

I Would Have Been Your Daddy...

The first Covenant you come across will be running like hell away from you. These grunts are going to fetch their big brothers, so get ready. Immediately start throwing frag grenades at the door and running towards it. As it opens throw another into the hall. With a little luck, the two elites storming out after you will get caught in the blast. Hose them down with the assault rifle as soon as you can. Both elites should go down leaving you in decent shape. If you survive this but with your health in the red, you may want to revert to the last checkpoint. Your first health pack is pretty far away and on the other side of a tough battle. There are six grunts to finish off in the hall, but you can blow all your assault rifle ammo on them. Just mow 'em down then ditch the assault rifle. Scavenge through the carnage looking for plasma grenades and a good plasma pistol to take.

You'll be blasting your way through innumerable rooms like the one ahead so get used to the scenery. One very handy tip for nearly all of these rooms: Shoot out the windows. Don't do this if you're trying to be stealthy of course, but once you're discovered blast them. They give you four more ways in and out of the central areas of these rooms. They can be very handy when getting out of the way of gunfire and they're invaluable for sneaking up behind elites.

Peek in and you'll see an elite patrolling the entrance to the next room. Sometimes he's farther away than others, but you can always sneak up and whack him from behind if you're fast enough. If you're having trouble, wait until he's heading towards the right (he seems to take longer going that direction) then instead of hitting him just stick a plasma grenade to him. You should have enough time for that. He'll wake up the whole neighborhood screaming at you, but that's fine. No need for stealth here, just head in and find cover near the entrance to the interior of this room. The Covenant here vary from game to game. There should be at

21 least four grunts and an elite on the ground and two grunts up on the catwalks. There also might be two or three jackals wandering around, but sometimes they're replaced by a few more grunts. Go for the grunts first. Zoom in and aim for the head if using the human pistol or just hose them down with the plasma pistol. Wander around and try to pick them off from far away. Once they're taken care of, switch to your plasma pistol and go for the jackals. Use charged shots to take down their shields then switch to the pistol and zoom in for the kill. If you're relatively close, there's no need to switch to the human pistol. You can just finish them off with the plasma pistol. If you're really close range, just whack 'em. If the elite is being annoying, take down his shields with a charged shot. That will usually send him running for cover leaving you alone to deal with his cronies. Once he's the only enemy left standing, take out his shields as usual then follow up with the pistol. If he ducks behind cover, drop a grenade next to him. Be careful when fighting through this room. If you get near the exit, three more grunts will come through to harass you. If you manage to finish off the original complement of Covenant without activating them, good for you. Move towards the door now and vent some plasma on them. Remember to scavenge again and pick up a good, full plasma pistol.

Moving on, you get to see snow for the very first time. It's like Xmas only with more killing. Don't run out into the open quite yet. Take a moment to bonk any sleeping grunts on the noggin but try not to attract the attention of the Banshee. There should four or five snoozing nearby. Be sure to get the ones by the Shades first. Right about now a human dropship should be getting the attention of the Covenant in the area. Run out and head down the ramp on the left to the lower level of the bridge. If all goes well, the elite down there will be immersed in watching his pal in the Banshee take pot shots at your friends. Smack him down. If you have trouble hitting him before he notices you, sticking a grenade to him will also kill him nicely. Most of the time he will notice you though, so blast him with a charged plasma shot to remove his shield then let loose with the pistol. If you're close enough, stick a grenade to him immediately after you take out his shields. He'll be stunned from the hit and won't dodge.

Once the elite is eliminated locate a couple of nearby jackals. They will probably be on the upper level, so go back up. Send them some charged plasma to get rid of that annoying energy shield then follow up with some sniping pistol action. As before, if you're close just wait for your plasma pistol to cool off after the charged shot and use it. Or if you're within reach of them, just beat them down.

Now that you have some breathing room it's time to eradicate the Banshee. Banshee pilots on Legendary are seriously bad news. If you have plenty of pistol ammo left, use that. Find some cover, wait until he lines up for an attack run, zoom in if you need to, empty most of a clip into his nose, then dive behind cover before he fries you. Repeat as necessary. It'll take about 20 shots. There's another relatively easy way to take him out. You'll need the limitless firepower of the Shade, but don't want to get caught out in the open. Simple solution: move the Shade. Use the one on your left as you first came out into the snow. I recommend this one because when you exit a Shade, you always exit to the right. You don't want to exit out into the open when a Banshee is bearing down on you. You can use a grenade or just whack it repeatedly to move it mostly behind the big wall in front of the door. The Banshee will have trouble hitting you behind this wall, but you can shoot over it when the Banshee is flying high. The Shade's shots move slowly, so lead your target a lot. This is all a bit complicated and time-consuming, but saves you ammunition. You can also do it the old-fashioned way, emptying all the spare weapons lying around on him.

With the air support out of the way, you're free to move about on the bridge. Head back to the lower level and step cautiously ahead. If you're lucky there will still be some sleeping grunts down here just past the midpoint of the bridge. Carefully sneak under the jackals overhead and put and end to them all. If the grunts are awake, you'll have to take them out from a distance. Snipe them with the pistol or shoot charged plasma shots towards them. Handle any jackals like you normally would. Charged plasma shot for their shields then gun them down with the pistol. There are several jackals and grunts here, but if you take your time, move between levels, always stay near cover, and hit them from as far away as you can, they

22 shouldn't be too much of a problem. Try not to move too far across the bridge. You want to eliminate all of these Covenant before triggering the next batch.

After these guys are toast, you should get a checkpoint. Sometimes it just doesn't happen though before the next group of Covenant shows up. This is bad because an elite commander just came out to slice you in half and he brought along some of his underlings. If at all possible, take out the new jackals and grunts first. Use the same tactics as before, just do it quickly. The elite commander is very good at dodging things so you'll have to wait until he's relatively close or jumping in the air. Hit him with a charged plasma shot. If you're at close range, immediately follow up with a plasma grenade then run like hell. Just like the last elite he'll hopefully be too stunned from the plasma to dodge. If he's farther away, switch to your pistol and gun him down. If you're having a lot of trouble, try grabbing a needler and unloading one of those on him. Once the bridge is clear you can stop and do a little jig. That was the first tough battle. Try to find the plasma rifle the first elite dropped if you can. It may have disappeared, in which case you can just grab a plasma pistol. Head on through the door to the next area.

The next room seems pretty easy at first. There are four grunts on the floor, and another four on the catwalks (how do these guys get up there?). Lurking among them though is a stealth elite. That's why it's preferable to have the plasma rifle here. Start sniping at the grunts with either weapon and he'll show up. He'll be coming from the left, so toss a frag grenade that way if you have one. Maybe you'll get lucky. Back up into the hall you just came out of. The stealth elite is much faster and more aggressive than the grunts, so he'll follow you as you retreat. As he appears in the doorway, let him have it. Look for the blue shots from his plasma rifle to locate him. Use your own plasma weapon and spray the area until you can see him. Then spray more until he dies. The remaining grunts should be easy to clean up. Try not to go too far around the room before finishing them all off. Once you're done you'll see why. Two hunters move in to attack. This room is pretty close quarters, so the old tactics for these need some fine-tuning. Try to use the obstacles and windows to get around behind them. If this doesn't work, get close and they'll usually charge. Sidestepping works better than backing up due to the lack of space. Sometimes they just follow you around only charging when they're so close it's nearly impossible to dodge. If they're riding your bumper like this, try jumping through a window. You did shoot them all out, didn't you? Or as a last resort, lead them back out of the room all the way down the hall and onto the bridge where you just 86ed the elite commander. Running around the big wall in front of the door always seems to confuse them. After they're taken care of, make sure to grab the goodies. You probably have no health left and no pistol ammo, so it's nice to get to fill up on both. Ride the elevator down to the next area.

More sleeping grunts. Only this time there's nothing around to wake them. So take your time and beat each of their little head's in. This short hall leads to another room with an inner and outer section. Turn left and make sure you've cleansed the whole area of grunts before going around to the right. These guys always seem to have needlers, so I hope you have a decent plasma pistol from before. Moving along, you'll come across a single elite milling about. He should be easy to sneak up behind. Stay hidden and use your motion tracker or just barely peek around a corner to watch. When he turns to walk away, wham!

On around the outer portion of the room is the entrance to the inner portion. Bop the sleeping grunts then wait by the entrance. Keep an eye on the motion tracker. One or two of the grunts should be patrolling nearby. When the time is right, dash out and hit each in turn from behind then quickly run back behind cover. Hopefully the other grunt and jackals won't see you. Once the coast is clear dash across the entrance to the other side. Stop just on the other side to figure out whether they detected you. If you're fast and lucky, they won't see you. There are two more jackals awake on this side to take out, but they're usually farther around. Cuff a few sleeping grunts then move stealthily along. These guys are hard to hit from behind, so get as close as you can. Try to catch them apart then run out and beat the first one down. The remaining enemies can be disposed of as usual. And for that matter if you wake everybody up early, dispose of them all as usual. Use the charged plasma shots for the jackal's shields,

23 grenade any groups, and snipe grunts and unshielded jackals with your pistols. Once they're all deceased, get ready to have some fun. Those marines you saw from the bridge need some help.

Get your pistol ready. Run out into the open and look for an upturned warthog and a squad of marines towards the left. That's where you need to be. A single Shade is the only enemy nearby, so zoom in and put a bullet through the gunner's brain while you run. As soon as you get to the warthog flip it over and get in. You need a gunner and preferably a passenger now, so if the marines aren't nearby, inch over towards them. If all the marines die, or you get mortared waiting for them to get in, restart. Once you have a gunner check to see if a marine is coming to be your passenger. If not, screw 'em. Drive back towards the door you came out of and a Ghost should follow you. You can't really damage the Ghost by ramming it with your hog, but try anyway. You'll often flip the elite out of his ride and he can be run over. Once the Ghost is toast, drive back into the fray where the marines used to be (they're probably all dead now). Swing your warthog around into any nearby enemies. Once they're all dead, your gunner will probably switch to shooting at the Shade on the nearby hill. Drive around in little circles within range until the Shade is taken care of. Now you need to worry about that Wraith. As long as you keep moving, he shouldn't score with a mortar. Avoid the ice. Warthogs sliding out of control make very easy targets. Run over any stray Covenant around while you cruise back and forth in front of their tank. If the Wraith moves onto land, you can just circle it. Eventually your gunner will pour on enough damage to blow it up. You're not safe yet though. Looking down the canyon where you have yet to go, you'll see a hill with a frozen pond on its left (where the Wraith was) and a path on its right. Take the path right towards another group of Covenant. Run over a few, let your gunner take out a few, then retreat to recharge. Repeat for the next few jackals farther around on the other side of the hill. You'll see a short cliff ahead. Don't go down there yet. Head back to the spot where you found the warthog. There's a veritable armory here, but sadly these weapons are rather useless. You'll be getting a tank in a moment and won't leave it until you're right next to some more weapons. Still it would be best to grab a rocket launcher, a sniper rifle, and of course the health pack.

Ok, now you can head back and drive your warthog off the cliff. Aim yourself towards the right edge so you land as far around the corner as possible. Drive up to the Scorpion tank and get out as your warthog slides by on the ice. Try not to get hit by your own warthog and get in the tank. Take just a second to figure out where to send you're first shell then blast them. Shoot for the group of Covenant that poses the biggest threat to your marines. They should be nearby on the right. Use the machine gun on the tank while you recharge for another shot. It's not very accurate or powerful, but it's better than nothing. Turn back left and find something juicy to shoot next. One thing to note before you start going crazy with the tank. You often can't hit things that look like they're right in your sights. The turret is pretty low and there are a lot of small hills in the way. The unmanned Ghost in front of you is a good example of this. If you try to shoot it from your current position, you'll usually hit the hill in front of it.

The gunner from your warthog should stop blasting and hop out soon. He'll join you on the tank along with any surviving marines. Try hard to save the sarge. He's got a sniper rifle and seems to survive this encounter better than the other marines. Sniper marines are a great asset, whether you're in a warthog or a tank. They are quite accurate and alert you to the presence of Covenant forces.

Well now you've finally gotten your hands on a Scorpion main battle tank. What are you going to do with it? The immediate Covenant threat has probably been eliminated by now, but two more Ghosts will soon come from different paths ahead, so be ready. Hit them each with a tank shell and follow up with the machine gun if they don't immediately explode. If you're not already an expert tanker, pause before heading into battle and get used to the controls. You can't shell anything too close without engulfing yourself and any marines with you in the blast. But you can run stuff over. The tank is obviously much slower than the warthog, but that can be an advantage when trying to make roadkill out of some poor grunt. When they jump out of the way, you can rotate quickly towards their new position and be on top of them again as they're getting up. You shouldn't have to do this though. The Scorpion has an infinite supply of

24 the most powerful munition in the game. It's also very easy to hit things at extremely long range. Many would think that using such a shell to off a single grunt would be silly, but on Legendary that's exactly what you want to do. Take on as few Covenant as possible, preferably one at a time, and blow them to smithereens. A single grunt will quickly ruin your rolling fortress with a single plasma grenade if you rely to heavily on your marines to take him out. Another big tip is to aim for the feet of your enemies. If you miss, you'll still catch them in the blast. One final thing. The marines are great for figuring out whether you're hitting anything with those long-range shots. Not only will they usually say something cocky when you paste a Covie, but they'll point their guns at enemies you may not be able to see. So if all your passengers are pointed towards a dark recess, shell it. If all the marines then relax and point their guns in different directions, you know you hit something.

Once you're set, move into the tunnel on your right. There will probably be some stragglers in here. They make great target practice. Don't go too far into the tunnel yet. Back out and take the path on the left. There are more Covenant here to destroy. Hitting them with the main gun can be a real pain. You'll probably have to drive right into their midst. When fighting with the tank up close, shell the ground behind the enemy so that you catch them, but not yourself, in the blast.

Moving around the corner, the gorge opens up into a vast area populated with two Wraith tanks, a couple of Ghosts, many Shades, and a load of ground troops. If you creep forward, you can usually trigger one of the Ghosts to attack by himself. He'll usually come over the hill to the left. One shot should send him up in flames. Now you can move forward and target the Wraith on the ice in front of you. You may have to move forward a bit to get a clear shot. It takes two shots from the big gun to demolish a Wraith, so hit it twice if you can. Once you've taken a shot or two at the Wraith, retreat and go through the tunnel you cleared out previously. There is a hill immediately in front of the exit blocking your view of the Wraith. Drive up on top of it and you'll get a great view of the area. You can even drive right up to the edge and shell the Wraith below you. Be careful of driving off the edge however. That tank has a lot of momentum. Aim for anything that looks suspicious and blow it up. As you look ahead, you'll see the path takes you underground through a huge gate in the side of the mountain. Usually there will be a Shade parked directly on top of this gate, so aim a shot or two his way. Behind him on a shelf is the other Wraith. This tank is very difficult to get an angle on. It isn't really necessary to kill, so if you get really frustrated, just ignore it.

As you finish up and move on towards the gate, stop for a second and turn to look directly behind you. Way high up on the cliff you should see a little artificially constructed ledge. There's a Banshee waiting there to swoop down on you when you try to enter the gate. There are also two hunters at the end of the tunnel ahead who will come out to greet you at the same time. Turn so you're facing the Banshee with your back to the tunnel with the hunters. Inch backwards until you get a checkpoint. You should also see the Banshee lift off. Quickly pull forward and you won't activate the hunters. Now you can concentrate solely on the Banshee. Keep moving and it shouldn't score with its fuel rod gun. Try to hit it with a tank shell, but if you miss at least keep on it with the machine gun. Keep moving and keep shelling until it goes down.

By now those hunters may have probably crept up into the open so move out of their range and shell them. If they haven't attacked yet, you can hit them at your leisure. These guys are tough. It takes at least one direct hit to knock 'em out for good. So if in doubt, hit them again. Once they're gone, you're free to move into the tunnel. There's an active camouflage out here as well. It's to the right of the gate if you're facing it behind some Covenant boxes. Unfortunately, as far as I can tell it's completely useless. Once you're in the tunnel you'll have to hop out of the tank to open the door ahead, but hop back in after you do and cruise to the next area.

As you move deeper underground, you'll come to a great chasm. Before you enter is one last oversized speed bump that hides you from the two elites patrolling near the door. You can't

25 shoot over it and hit them, but you can hit the top of the block of machinery behind them. Do that a couple of times to weaken them before going over the bump to finish them off. After they've been tanked, turn your attention to the right. There's a Shade parked on a broken ledge sticking out over the chasm, but don't move ahead to blast him yet. Wait for a moment and locate a single grunt who should be running up from past the Shade to throw a grenade at you. Don't let him. After he's gone, then you can move towards the Shade to get a clear shot. Shoot the floor just in front of it and you can really send it flying. Farther along this ledge is a health pack for when you need it.

Now turn around and head towards the intact bridge. Take a few potshots at any Covenant you think you can hit. Don't aim at the Covenant themselves. Aim for the wall or structure behind them. Same idea as shooting their feet. You just need to catch them in the blast, not hit them directly. There are a ton on the bridge and the far side, so just keep shelling. Past the bridge (but still on your side of the chasm) another Shade and a couple of grunts are milling about. Try to keep an obstacle between you and the Shade while you work on the grunts. Then move around and blast it into the pit. From this side of the bridge you should be able to hit a few more far off Covenant. There's another Shade directly across the chasm from the one you just took out, so blast it a time or two until it's turned over. You don't want more grunts hopping in it later. Now you can move onto the bridge. Everyone around here should be dead if you spent time shelling the area before, but move with caution. Check those corners. Back up and shoot the floor behind an enemy if it pops up right next to you. Just past the end of the bridge is another block of machinery that's a perfect backboard for tank rounds. There are several grunts off to the left and some elites and hunters to the right. Just keep your distance and blast away. Once you're satisfied that everything in this area has been obliterated, hop out and open the next big doorway.

Rolling Thunder

The first enemies you'll encounter in this section will again be unable to see you due to the oversized speed bump in the way. Blast the grunt on top of the bump as you come around the corner. Stay on your side and shell the wall behind them. Then you can creep up and shell the tops of the boxes. Finally drive all the way over and finish off any leftovers.

Looking up the long tunnel back outside, you'll see the shields of many jackals dotting the way. Fire at will. Just keep blasting until they are no more. One or two will usually find cover, so proceed up the tunnel with caution and when in doubt, shell any corners they may be hiding in. You should get a checkpoint after they are all gone. A Covenant dropship will unload some nasty things for you as you approach the mouth of the tunnel. Two Ghosts come down in quick succession, so backup as you're fighting them to give yourself a little more time to recharge. Nail them both with the main gun. Now you have a few troops on either side to deal with, but the slope makes it very difficult to fire on them with the tank. Shell the tree on the left and you'll hopefully catch most of those troops in the blast. There is also a rock on the right that sticks up a bit to bounce some shells off of before moving in close to finish them off.

Now you can move out into the open. There are many things to do in this area. First move to the right of the giant pillar. You'll see a hill with a Shade at the top, so blow that up. Inching forward, you'll see there is a door in the side of the pillar. Move towards it and a group of Covenant will come out. Send a shell into the hallway they're coming out of to get the bulk of them then blast the rest before they get too far away.

Now that they're taken care of, you can locate a bunch of dead marines with goodies to the right against the canyon wall. You can't really use much of the ammo, but a health pack is always welcome. Now take a look between the hill (where the last Shade you blew up was sitting) and the central pillar. You should be able to see a Wraith in the distance that hasn't noticed you yet. Take the opportunity to blow it to smithereens.

26 Move around the pillar to the left and you'll soon come across another Ghost and the occasional elite or grunt. Show them no mercy. Stay relatively close to the pillar so you don't trigger more enemies while you're clearing this area out.

Moving along, you'll see another Shade on top of another hill. This one can be difficult to hit. Feel free to hop out of the tank, whip out your rocket launcher and obliterate him. Be careful though. Another Ghost will come swooping in soon to attack. There is also a ledge on this side of the pillar accessed through a hall leading into the interior. Shell any elites that pop out and send a shell or two into the hall if they retreat.

Ok, just a few more enemies to go here. Moving on around the pillar, you'll come across another door leading in. Another group of Covies will come out to play. Again you should send one shell into the hall as soon as the door opens then follow up with more as soon as you can.

The last Covenant in this area are two stealth elites guarding an active camouflage inside the pillar. If you get out of the tank to kill them, the marines riding with you will occasionally wander off and probably get themselves killed. I don't know why they do this here, but it's not a good thing. So you can exterminate them if you're being very thorough, but I don't usually bother. If you do venture in after them, stay in the hall. They're easier to take out if they have to run down a narrow, confined space to get to you.

Now you can move away from the pillar and on to the next area. As you follow the canyon around a curve, two hunters will move out to attack. At around the same time, a Banshee will launch from the top of the pillar as well. Back up and blast the hunters staying well out of their range. Soon they should either die or retreat leaving you and the Banshee. Deal with this one the same way you dealt with the last one. Try to blow it out of the air, but keep pouring on the hurt with the machine gun just in case. And of course keep moving.

Now you can get back to shelling the Covenant ahead of you. One of the hunters probably retreated and there are a few elites here too. Cruise on ahead and after gunning this group down, take a look ahead. The canyon is narrow and dark here, but ahead it opens up into another large area. Just as it opens up on the right is a batch of grunts and jackals. They come around to investigate in small groups, so wait for them to come into view then blast them. Once they stop coming, look ahead of you against the left canyon wall. There is another group of Covenant that is relatively far away. Aim for the tree they're gathered around and blow them away. Now you can move out into the open. Keep an eye out for any survivors from the first group on the right. Look across the expanse to the other canyon wall. There are two Shades far apart over there that need to be blown away.

Now as you drive ahead, two hunters down below will assault a group of marines. Keep going and follow the path around to the lower level. If you're slick, you can drive right up to the edge and send a few shells down at the hunters, but they'll fire back and it's easy to accidentally drive off the edge, so be careful. After you're down to the bottom, hit the hunters as they come around the corner towards you. Try to move slowly here. The marines are easy to run over.

A Covenant dropship will move in and drop off some bad guys behind you on the upper level. Keep going until you're near where the hunters first appeared. You want these Covenant to have to walk a long way to get to you. That way, they'll come into firing range a few at a time. Blast each group and the marines will take out any survivors.

Sadly, now you must park your trusty Scorpion and head off on foot. The way ahead is blocked by big pipe thingies. To the left of the pipes you'll find a massive pile of weapons, a health pack, and an active camouflage. The active camouflage is kind of a freebie. You don't really need it for this walkthrough, so use it when you need it. If you really want to, you can pick it up and just run through this whole mess. But where's the fun in that? So anyway, switch out your weapons for an assault rifle and a pistol. Now move slowly into the tunnel

27 ahead and keep your assault rifle up. Two stealth elites will come into view. Send a few clips of ammo their way and they'll go down. Now switch to your pistol and zoom in on the open area ahead. There are a mob of grunts and several jackals here to blow away. Burn through the ammo. There's a ton lying around. Try to take them all out from the safety of the tunnel. Jump and shoot if you have to. Now go back and switch out your assault rifle for a rocket launcher. Head through the tunnel into the next area. Chances are good that a few elites and grunts will come down the path ahead to make trouble. Before you worry about them though, you should turn your attention 180 degrees around to the hole you just came through. Look way up and keep backing up and you'll see a Shade perched high on the wall just waiting to shred your marines. Zoom in and send a rocket to end that particular threat then quickly spin back to face the battle ahead. Shoot your other rocket at the approaching elites then switch to your pistol to mop up.

Now you can go back and fill up your pistol, switch out your rocket launcher for a sniper rifle, and grab a health pack if you're badly hurt. Before you go though, notice there's another store of ammo and health packs on this side of the tunnel. It's to the left of the entrance in a shady spot under a tree. So just to recap: you should have a pistol and a sniper rifle, both full of ammo, and should have now located (and possibly used) three health packs. Most importantly you have access to almost 30 rockets in the vicinity. That's a lot of firepower.

The marines are supposedly going to stay put now while you work on the stationary gun. Pop your head up and you'll see a whole bunch of grunts and possibly a few elites milling about in the area above you. Use your sniper rifle on any elites. They tend to attack from your left. Needlers work well on these guys too. Once they're taken care of, zoom in with your pistol and blow all the grunts away. There are an awful lot of them, so this might take a while. Once you've littered the clearing with their bodies, it's time to take out the Shade. Stand at the top of the switchback that leads to the area ahead and look out across the field. There should be a tree nearby on your right, another one relatively close by on your left, and another farther away right in the middle. At the base of the middle tree are a couple of rocks. The Shade is behind the rock on the right. Once you've located it, arc a plasma grenade over and you can take it out without him ever seeing you. It's a really long-range throw, but you can do it. Center your view on the rock in front of it and look up until your crosshairs are pointed at the lowest corner of the bridge. I mean lowest in terms of the closest to the bottom of your TV screen, not in actual elevation. Then throw a plasma grenade. It should arc right over the rock and send the Shade flying.

Now for the next battle. Run back and switch out your sniper rifle for a rocket launcher. Head back to where your were, at the top of the switchback. Move ahead a few dozen meters and you'll trigger two Ghosts and a Banshee. It's difficult to determine exactly when you've activated them, but an elite will come running up soon to let you know. Quickly retreat and drop down. The Banshee will fly overhead and start making swiss cheese out of your marines. This guy flies pretty erratically, but try to blast him out of the air as soon as you can. If you're having real trouble hitting him with a rocket, gun him down with the pistol.

Once he's gone, you can turn your attention to the Ghosts. They'll be hovering around up ahead, so go back up the switchback one more time. Peek out and blow these guys away with a few rockets. Head back briefly to fill up on rockets and switch out your pistol for a sniper rifle. Now you're free to move out into the open and take a good look around. You'll be leaving this area through a door far ahead on the right. Straight ahead of you is a ditch that dips down and has two side passages. Each one holds an elite, but they won't even appear unless you go down to fight them. Take them out later if you're feeling particularly hostile. The door ahead is guarded by a Shade on either side. Zoom in and snipe both gunners. Move ahead then and as you near the door, more elites will come out to play. Have a grenade waiting for them then follow up with a rocket or two, or three. However many it takes. Now you can head back one last time to fill up everything. Bring a sniper rifle and a rocket launcher along for the next section of the level. Aren't you glad to finally be done with this place?

28 Say good-bye to the great outdoors. You won't have a whole lot of room to move around for a while. Follow the hallway ahead to the next room. This place contains about 30 grunts, all asleep. So start bonking away. The two blips on your motion tracker are elites wandering around the interior of this room. Once you're at the entrance to the inner area take a moment and see if the elites have their backs turned. If it's safe, run up and whack one. Usually you can take one out from here. If it looks too dangerous, leave them for now. When the coast is clear, run across the entrance and proceed around the circle pounding any grunts you find slumbering along the way. Make sure you get all of them. They'll sleep in any nook and cranny they can find. Once they're all dead, you just have to worry about the inner area. Switch out your rocket launcher for a plasma pistol near the exit, just in case you need to blast a few guys. You could just leave now, but everyone needs more practice sneaking up on elites. There are more ways into the interior than the main entrance. There are several little ramps that lead in and often have grunts sleeping on them. Use these to peek in and find a way to drop in behind the elites. Crouch down, be patient and you can take both elites out without them seeing you. Use all the different little entrances you need to. Once everyone has been thoroughly bonked, get your rocket launcher and sniper rifle back and head to the next area.

As the elevator takes you up, get ready. There's a jackal at the top waiting for you. Quickly run up and beat him repeatedly until he goes down. There's another jackal around the corner. Try to switch out one of your weapons for that plasma pistol the jackal just dropped. It has the fastest melee attack. If you can't reach it without alerting the other jackal, that's ok. Just run around and beat him down too. Now you can definitely get a plasma pistol. The next room has another two jackals waiting for you. Creep up and open the door. Be stealthy if you can, but you'll probably just have to run up and pound them into the floor. Since you just got a checkpoint, you can play around with these guys a bit and figure out the best way to quickly kill them both or at least make them run away. Now that you have control of this room, you can organize things a bit. That sniper rifle and rocket launcher you've been lugging around are just too nice to throw away, but aren't useful for every little encounter, so keep them handy, but not as your primary two weapons. For those, you'll want a human pistol and plasma pistol. There's a health pack here, though of course you should save it until you absolutely need it or are leaving the area. There are also three frag grenades lying around. Move up the ramp and look into the next room. There are a whole pile of grunts and often jackals up there waiting for you. Back up and use a couple of those frags. Things should be clear enough now for you to move in and start picking off bad guys. Charge up the plasma pistol, run up, fire it off, retreat, then do it all over again. Pause a moment to injure any jackals you hit, but don't worry about finishing them off. Just slowly whittle them down until everyone's dead. Remember you can grab the sniper rifle or rocket launcher if you're having trouble. You don't want to waste them, but you can empty them both over the course of this room and the upcoming bridge crossing. You'll get more ammo after that.

Now you can move up the ramp and grab a fresh plasma pistol. The way is blocked to your left, but there are small slits you can fire through. If any Covenant body parts are visible through the cracks, send them some charged plasma shots. Shoot out the window while you're here, but be careful. There is an elite commander in this room and he'll tear you up if you're visible through the window. If you can, peek in and look at the central structure in this room. High up there are two holes and two breakable windows. Hiding up there is an elite, so toss a plasma grenade in if you can. Once you're finished, move around the outside of this area. The elite commander will often come out to personally give you a whuppin, so be ready. Send a charged plasma shot to disrupt his shields, then switch to the pistol and fill him full of lead. If he gives you any problems, run back and grab the rocket launcher to deal with him. If he stays in the interior of the room, he'll be a lot tougher to kill. You can take out his shields, but he'll find cover before you can finish him off. Drop a grenade next to his hiding place, or pick up a needler. Needlers are always great against medium to long-range elites. You're probably looking into the interior of the room by now, so if you haven't done so already, toss a grenade into the hole high up on the central structure to take out the elite hiding there. Once the commander is toast, he'll activate. Another elite and some grunts and jackals will also fill the room back up, so fall back if you need to then do it all over again. Charged plasma shots for the jackals, pistol rounds or plasma for the grunts, and sniper rounds or rockets if anybody

29 gets too cocky. You'll know you're finished when the music stops. Move back into the room when everything is clear and mop up any leftovers. Grab the sniper rifle and rocket launcher and move on to the next area.

Ahh, back out in the fresh air. There will be many sleeping grunts nearby for you to pound on, so smack them all around and switch out your rocket launcher for one of their pistols. Put it in a safe place though, since you'll need it later. Three jackals are patrolling a little further along the bridge. You may be able to sneak up behind one or two if you're careful and patient, but don't stick your neck out too far. Once they start shooting several grunts will wake up on the other bridge and start firing. So first you need to find some cover. Then you can use your sniper rifle and blow the brains out of the jackals. If the grunts haven't woken up yet, snipe at the three elites ahead. Blow them all away, then wake up the grunts on the bridge by shooting at them. If they're awake already, leave the elites for now and start sending charged plasma shots over to soften the grunts up. There should be many plasma pistols lying about, so use them up. Switch plasma pistols often. If you pick up a weapon, even for a short while, it's much less likely to disappear later. Once their numbers have thinned a bit, you can peek out for longer and you won't have to charge up the pistol. Once the first group of grunts on the other bridge is dead, you can move on. If you haven't taken care of them already, now you have the three elites to worry about. Watch them while they run around a bit, wait until they're all right next to each other, then toss a grenade into their midst. Hopefully it will stick to one and take them out. Pick off the others with more grenades or the sniper rifle. If you hit them with a sniper round and they duck behind cover, don't give up. Often you can move to get a better angle where you can see a hand or head sticking out and you can finish them off. You can even use your rocket launcher here if you need to. Just save two rockets for the end of the bridge. Move ahead and another group of grunts will be come into range on the other bridge. Go back to sending charged shots over to take them out. The needlers dropped by the elites are good at taking these guys out as well. Now you've cleared out half the bridge. The other half is populated with a great many jackals and grunts. Zoom in with the sniper rifle and look for jackals. Start putting them down. You can use the last of your sniper rifle rounds on these guys. You can hit grunts if you have rounds to spare, but the jackals are your real targets. Make sure they all go down. The remaining grunts can be killed with the plasma pistols. Hopefully you still have a few of them lying around. Just aim down the length of the bridge so your shots can travel as far as possible and start firing. They tend to wander into the line of fire and most will go down easily. There will also probably be a last group of grunts on the other bridge to worry about. Find good cover from any remaining troops on your bridge and send charged plasma shots over to take them out. Don't move too far ahead. You want to finish off all of these enemies before the next wave appears. Once you think you're done, go back and switch out your sniper rifle for the rocket launcher.

Move towards the door ahead and hopefully you'll get a checkpoint as the last group of Covenant appears. There are two stealth elites mixed in with the grunts, so be careful. Keep an eye on the door and as soon as you see it opening toss a couple of plasma grenades so that they arc over the wall and into the hallway. It's a tough throw, but you can do it. Hopefully the grenades will take out most of these troops, but get your rocket launcher out just in case. Run to the area just outside the upcoming door so you can see inside. Launching rockets at close range isn't usually advisable, but you want to take out these stealth elites quickly and you can't really see them at long range. So blast away and remember to aim for the feet. Once you've verified there are two stealth elite bodies lying around, switch back to the plasma pistol and mop up the grunts. If you use up all your rockets and there are still stealth elites around, run like hell. It will be easier to finish them off if you aren't surrounded by grunts.

Whew. Finally the bridge is all clear. Now you can go back and grab your sniper rifle and rocket launcher and head to the next room. You shouldn't have many shots left for either, but that's ok.

You can walk into this room with no ammo and your health in the red. There are four elites here, but you can take them all out without firing a shot. They walk regular patrol routes and

30 each will turn his back to you long enough for you to run up and break their spine. Occasionally one of them will be running around instead of walking. In that case, take out the walking ones first then use whatever you have left to take out the runner. Assuming no one's running around, start with the guy on the right. Keep a careful eye on him without being spotted. As soon as he turns his back, run out and put him down. Continue around the circle. Be patient and each one will present themselves in turn to be assassinated. Once they're cleared away, stock up on goodies. There's a health pack, a full rocket launcher, an extra clip of rockets, two sniper clips, and plenty of pistol and assault rifle ammo. Fill up your rocket launcher then switch it out for a pistol. Only grab a clip of sniper ammo if you have 8 or less extra rounds. You'll be dealing with the hall ahead then coming back here, so you don't really have to fill up right now.

Moving along you'll see an apparently clear hall ahead of you. Switch to your pistol and zoom in. A whole mess of grunts and jackals will come pouring out from behind cover. Just lay into them. Shoot for the hands of any jackals with their shields up. No need to conserve pistol ammo. There's more where you just came from. Run away often to recharge. After a while of this, very few Covenant should be left in the hall. If you need to, switch to the sniper rifle to finish off any particularly cunning opponents. When you're clear, head back and fill up. Grab a rocket launcher and keep your sniper rifle.

The next room is a bit complicated, but you definitely want to clear the outside of the room before going for the Covenant in the middle. First things first. There are two elites patrolling the outer corridor and you need to sneak up behind both and quietly dispatch them. They walk pretty long patrol routes, so find good cover, wait for one to pass, then just walk up behind him and bash the back of his skull in. Rinse and repeat. If they wander into the middle area, don't follow. Be patient and they'll eventually come back to the outer area where it's much safer to sneak up on them. Several jackals are waiting for you at the far end of the room, so make sure they don't see you while you're eliminating the elites. Now you're free to beat up the sleeping grunts. One or two might be within view of the jackals, so you might want to let them live for now. Bonk as many as you can then switch out your rocket launcher for one of their plasma pistols.

Now while everyone's still unaware of your presence, take a look inside the middle structure. There's a ramp leading up into it from the side your on. Be stealthy and creep up to one side of the base of the ramp. From here, you should be able to see in a bit without them spotting you. Wait for one of the major elites to come into view. Be patient and wait for a really good opportunity then tag him with a plasma grenade. Well, the whole room knows you're here now, so you'd better run back to the outer ring. Any grunts you let live will wake up now, so remember where you left them and go take them out.

Next come the jackals. Find a nice comfy spot in the outer circle where you can peek around and see them then start sending charged plasma shots their way. After you've beat up on the jackals a bit they'll be more cautious about sticking their necks out, so run all the way around the circle to the other side of them. Now you should have a better shot. Repeat a few times and they'll soon be toast.

Now you have the folks in the middle to worry about. Shoot out all the windows as usual. You might need them. There are two ramps up into the central area and they are directly across from each other. First you want to eliminate the grunts of course. Find a spot in the outer ring that gives you a decent view of one these ramps. You don't want to be looking directly up the ramp. Then everyone up there will be able to see you. Fire a couple of shots in to get their attention then nail them when they come down the ramp to investigate. Stick plasma grenades to any really easy targets. Maybe they'll run back up and blow up their friends. Move to the other ramp and do the same. Keep moving back and forth eliminating any grunts that run down the ramps. At this point you can use the whole middle area as well to move around in. Once the grunts are pretty much out of the picture, the elites will be easier to manage. Each time you make your presence known at the bottom of one ramp, the elites will all turn

31 their attention that way. Then when you come around to the other side, they all have their backs turned looking at the first ramp. And we all know what to do with elites when they have their backs turned. Unfortunately, this doesn't work that well in practice. Only rarely can you really sneak up and melee them to death. But you can definitely stick grenades to them. So move back and forth looking for easy targets to tag with plasma grenades. Snag a needler if one is handy and use that as well. And as usual you don't need to lug around that sniper rifle and rocket launcher for nothing. Use your favorite if they're being really annoying.

By now you've probably figure out my routine for these encounters. Come in with a rocket launcher and sniper rifle. Stealthily kill as many things as possible. Steal the fallen Covenant's weapons and use them to kill their friends. Fall back to your rocket launcher and sniper rifle in sticky situations. Well in the upcoming battle, you don't have a chance to covertly take out any Covenant and steal their weapons. So leave your rocket launcher in this room and pick up a plasma rifle from one of the elites in the middle. You will be coming back for the rocket launcher later though, so remember where you dropped it.

Move along to the next battle and you'll find yourself heading back across the bridge. Run out and you'll get the attention of a pack of grunts and elites. Retreat into the doorway and wait. The grunts will follow you all the way back here, so be ready. Peek out and mow them down with the plasma rifle. As usual, fall back after each barrage of gunfire to let your shields recharge. Even if you think there's only one left.

By now you've probably noticed the two hunters on the other bridge. You should probably take these guys out before the elites. You should still have plenty of rockets, so use those. Just save yourself two. Just like the last bridge crossing, there are two stealth elites waiting at the end of this battle. You can also use your sniper rifle. If you're patient and very lucky, they'll eventually turn their backside to you. Once they're gone, you can focus your attention solely on your own bridge.

The elites ahead are easy prey for your sniper rifle. If they get behind cover before you can finish them off, move around and try to get a better shot on their hiding place. Like the elites on the last bridge, you can often see a hand or head sticking out and put an end to them. Once you've cleared out all of these enemies, you should get a checkpoint. While you've got a moment, switch out your plasma rifle for a plasma pistol.

Moving along, you'll trigger another group of Covenant to storm the bridge. There will be more elites, grunts, and jackals in this group. These grunts are very aggressive and will track you all the way across the bridge, so back up and take them out from a distance with your pistol. Use charged shots until they get too close. The elites can be taken care of with a few clips from a needler or with the sniper rifle. The jackals can be taken out as usual, with loads of charged plasma shots. Now go all the way back and pick up your rocket launcher. You'll be glad you did. Leave behind whatever Covenant weapon you were using. Once you get back to the bridge, grab a plasma pistol or rifle and drop your sniper rifle for now.

Two stealth elites are waiting for by the time you get out into the open on the bridge. Just like before, run forward and blast the feet of any blurry spots that are shooting at you. Switch to your plasma weapon if you run out of rockets and hose them down. Once both stealth elites are accounted for grab your sniper rifle and rocket launcher.

Now we can fall back into our old habit of sneakily bashing sleeping grunts and stealing their weapons. The next room is filled with jackals and grunts, but the grunts are asleep. Wait patiently until the jackals have all moved into the center of the room. Then quickly run to the right and start beating these grunts to death. Switch out your least favorite between the rocket launcher and sniper rifle for a plasma pistol. The rest of this room should be simple. Once you've exhausted your supply of sleeping grunts fall back to the door and start sending charged plasma shots and grenades into the midst of the jackals. Once your pistol runs low, run out and grab another. Slowly clear the way ahead, moving around the outside of the

32 room. These Covenant don't tend to use the middle much. Keep blasting anything that moves with charged shots and switching for better pistols when you can. Eventually you'll down the last little grunt. You'll know he's the last one when the music starts playing. That's your cue to go back, grab your rocket launcher and sniper rifle, and move on.

Now you face the hall of the stealth elites. There are four here. Some have swords, others have rifles, but they're all invisible and can be a real pain in the ass. Peek around the corner and you should be able to distinguish at least one nearby. Blast him twice with the sniper rifle (or whatever's handy if you're running low) then retreat and get your rocket launcher ready. The sword elites will come after you. As soon as they round the corner, nail them. Now you can move back towards the hall and look for survivors. Keep your rocket launcher ready and shoot the ground around any blurry spots. There's an active camouflage here, but don't pick it up now. You'll need it later.

All the next room has in store for you are two hunters. If you have a couple of sniper rounds left use those. Run up and make 'em charge, then back up and shoot them in the guts. If you're out of sniper ammo, you're in luck. There's a large ammo cache in this room including a pistol, so you can run in and switch out your sniper rifle for the pistol. It can get a little dicey, dodging their fuel rod blasts and charges the whole time, but once you get the hang of hunters, it's easy to dance around them. Try not to pick up any unneeded supplies yet. Just the pistol. There's another little scuffle coming up ahead and you can fill up after that. After the hunters are laid to rest, you can grab some frag grenades and an assault rifle. The next group of enemies is clustered in a hallway, so both these weapons work well.

Open the door to the next area and fire a few shots. Toss in a frag grenade as they start to bunch up then run out of view. Feel free to use up all your frags. There's more in the ammo pile. Repeat a few times until Cortana starts talking. That means everyone's dead.

Now you can take some time to really scavenge. Grab a full sniper rifle and rocket launcher as usual. You can also grab the health pack, even if you don't really need it. Now you can go back for the active camouflage. The idea here is to grab the active camouflage then run as fast as you can to the next section. Map out your route so you don't waste any time after you get it. You can even jump through one of the windows to save a second or two if you really need the extra time. You should get a much-needed checkpoint as you enter the next phase of the mission.

If I Had a Super Weapon...

Keep running out into the open. Ignore the Covenant around you. It may be tempting to whack a few, but it tends to lessen your chances of getting to the Banshee ahead. That's where you're headed. The rest of the level is much easier if you get this Banshee. In fact I'm not even going to outline an alternate strategy. You're invisible. You should be able to beat the pilot to it most of the time. If not, try again. As soon as you get in, fly off the edge and drop like a rock. You want to minimize the damage from the troops on the bridge. Once you're closer to the ground, you can put some distance between you and the bridge before flying back up to the higher altitudes. There is another Banshee flying around so get on his tail before he gets on yours. Dogfighting with the Covenant is simple. Look around until you see them, then stay on their tail and hose them down with your plasma cannons. They aren't that skilled at air to air combat. Don't let him lead you near the bridge though. The ground troops will heavily damage you. Keep the fight high in the air. Once he falls in a fiery heap, head down with him to ground level.

There is a Wraith here that you need to take out. To deal with him you need to clear out the floor of the canyon. There are two elites down here. Fly right towards one, nailing him with the fuel rod gun as you approach then opening up with the plasma cannons. Smash straight into him if he's still alive. The nose of the Banshee does a great job of grinding elites to paste. If one has already taken to his Ghost, take a few passes and blast it to pieces with both guns.

33 After the elites are out of the picture, head directly across from the Wraith near the door on the ground level. Get out of your Banshee and get in the nearby Ghost. Cruise towards the Wraith and you should be able to see it on the other side of the huge metal beam going up the pyramid. Stay on your side directly across from him. You should be looking at him through the opening under the big beam. His mortar shots will hit the beam leaving you unharmed. I think you know what to do. Open up with those plasma cannons. You're pretty far away and the Wraith can take a ton of damage, but eventually it will go down. You may have to work it a little, but as long as you stay on your side of the canyon and shoot through the opening, he'll keep wasting his shots.

Now that the Wraith is gone, you can fly around much more safely. Hop back in the Banshee and fly back up over the bridge. Give it a wide berth as your gaining altitude of course, but eventually you want to be right over it. Point your nose down and fly the Banshee backwards so you stay basically in the same place. As you're hovering you can carpet-bomb the bridge with your fuel rod gun. If you see a speck moving down below, nail it. Drop lower and lower as the number of targets dwindles. Elites will take several shots. And don't forget to use your plasma cannons once you're low enough. Fly back and forth and lay waste to the whole bridge. Once every Covenant out there has been blasted to pieces, fly towards the door ahead. It's the one on the lit end of the canyon, not the one in the shadows. Drop down so you're resting on the bridge and fly towards the door. As soon as it opens, send a fuel rod into the hallway and run like hell. Fly way up out of the way. There are two hunters in the group that comes out of that door and they can shoot pretty far. Hover over them and go back to long-range bombing of the bridge. Be sure to blast any grunts before they get too far away. Then turn to the hunters. After many hits, they'll go down. Do one last flyover to make sure all of the Covenant here have been destroyed. Now you can land on the bridge near the door ahead. Of course you could just fly up to the top of the pyramid and skip a whole chunk of the level. But if you wanted to take the easy way, you wouldn't be playing on Legendary now would you? So land on the bridge near the edge. Get out and push your Banshee over the edge so it will be waiting for you when you get to the bottom. You can push it by repeatedly whacking it, or blow it off the side with a grenade. Take note of where it lands. You'll want it later. Now you can move through the door to the next room.

This place is just packed full of jackals and grunts. You should have plenty of rockets and a full sniper rifle to play with, so go to it. Use a couple of rockets to clear out a section of this room for yourself then switch to sniping the survivors. Use up most of your sniper ammo if you want to. You'll be getting more rockets and sniper rounds in the next room. These guys should go down easily against such a brutal display of force. Once you're done annihilating these guys, proceed down the elevator.

Open the door into the next area and look ahead. There are two stealth elites close by, but their position varies from game to game. Often you can run up to the outer corridor and look left and there will be one right there with his back turned. The other one will be on your right patrolling. You can grab his buddies' plasma rifle and waste him or blow him up with a rocket. Either way works fine. If you can't seem to sneak up on either one, use rockets on them both. You should have a few left. The rest of this room is filled with a smaller than usual complement of grunts and jackals, so this should be easy. Empty your rocket launcher on them, switch it out for a plasma weapon, and hose them down. Retreat and use your sniper rifle if they start getting the better of you. Sweep the room clean, pick up your rocket launcher, and head into the central structure for some goodies. You'll find a health pack, two clips of rockets, two clips of sniper ammo, and some other odds and ends. This is the last health pack you get on this level, so be careful from now on. After you've picked up all that you can, head back outside.

Ok, back out into the open for the last bit of the mission. You're really close to the end. Usually you'd run into a whole lot of trouble when you stepped out of this door, but you've taken care of most of it already in your Banshee. Speaking of your Banshee, it should be waiting for you wherever you left it, but you shouldn't need yet. Take a moment to look around. There's a path to the top of the pyramid that zig-zags back and forth across its face.

34 There should be a few sleeping grunts and hunters for you to kill now though before you take to the path. Maybe four or five grunts will be scattered around, some on the ground, some near the hunters. Sleeping grunts we've seen before, but the hunters are on oddity. They certainly seem to be asleep, but it's kind of hard to tell. Anyway, after the grunts have been put down, walk around behind them and put a bullet into each of their backs. Any grunts you missed should awaken at this and make themselves known. Beat them down ruthlessly.

Now before you head up the pyramid, there is some cleaning to do. First of all, there's an ammo stash at the base of the large central beam that runs from the top of the pyramid all the way into a crack in the ground. Drop down into that crack and you'll find a ton of ammo. If you're not full on rockets, grab some now. Get back out of there and go find your Banshee. Take to the skies and survey the layout of the pyramid. The first level is cleared out already. That's where the hunters were. On the left, there's a ramp leading up to the second level. Where the ramp meets the second level, there's a Shade. Hit it with a blast or two from your fuel rod gun. There will also be a few grunts and an elite on the second level near this Shade. Blast them too. You may have to drop down a bit low to see them. Now on the far right side of the second level there's another ramp with another Shade at the top. You get the picture. Blast it. Several jackals and grunts are milling around the third level so blast them too.

Now we need to go activate some more enemies to kill. Park your Banshee on the third level on the right side of the tunnel in the middle. Get out and run through the tunnel. Now turn around and run back to your Banshee. That should set them off. Fly back into the air and scout out the fourth level, the biggest one just before the top. On the right side there should be some grunts and hunters coming down. Hover and bomb. This should be easy by now. You've had a lot of practice. Once they're gone, you're really, really close to finishing this level. Just one more fight to go.

Fly up to the last level and get out. There should be a big door in front of you. This isn't really the highest point you can get to of course. There's a ramp that leads up around the tower a couple of times to a dead end. You'll be landing up there a little later, so take note of where it is. The switch to open the door is on the right. Hit it then run as fast as you can back into your Banshee and fly away. Several grunts and an elite commander will run out onto the platform in front of the door. Fly up high and come down directly over the middle of this platform. This will require some maneuvering, but you can do it. Press right up against the mountainside far over the door you just opened. From here you can hover and blast away the grunts that came out. Drop lower and lower and make sure to get them all. Once you're really low, you can finish off the elite commander. He'll take several shots, but fortunately you have infinite ammunition. Sometimes a grunt will get into one of the nearby Shades, so be careful of them. You may have to take a special trip to fly out and destroy them. After they've all been blown to bits, look across from the door you opened. There's that ramp that leads up around the tower. The ramp leads to a path that goes around a few times and dead ends at a ledge overlooking the doorway. Fly over and land on that ledge. Hop out and say goodbye to your Banshee. Now you can run back down the path and get out your sniper rifle. The top of the last ramp leading down to the door ahead is a good place to stop and snipe. Take out anything you can. Move forward onto the platform and through the door. Finish off any grunts hiding nearby then look down the hall. Unless you got lucky and took them out already, two elites will be waiting for you. Snipe them both. When they run to the right seeking cover, run with them. Whip out your rocket launcher and blow them both sky high. That's it. Those guys were the last enemies on this level. Now you can finally open all the doors and enjoy your very well- deserved cutscene.

6. 343 Guilty Spark

Well, things are really starting to heat up now. Cortana has access to Halo's computer systems and she's totally flipping out. Looks like you have to go save Keyes' sorry butt again before he, uh... well you don't really know what he's going to do, but Cortana seems to think it's

35 really bad. This level is considerably shorter and easier than Assault on the Control Room so relax. And it introduces you to new enemies and a new weapon to play with.

Well Enough Alone

Walk straight ahead and a downed Pelican will loom out of the fog. That's the third busted Pelican in as many levels. Makes you a little more grateful to have Foe Hammer as your pilot, doesn't it? Anyway, move ahead and behind the dropship you'll find a stash of ammunition and health packs. The green boxes are full of shotgun shells, but somebody neglected to leave you a shotgun. Fill up your assault rifle, switch to your pistol, and move ahead. A few grunts and jackals will wandering around up ahead, so find some cover near them and zoom in. Pick them off with the pistol then switch to the assault rifle if they get too close. The jackals will tend to hang back so finish off the grunts first. Then you can either hang back as well and snipe them with the pistol or run in and waste them with grenades and the assault rifle. Since there are three health packs by the downed Pelican, feel free to grab one now.

Switch out your assault rifle for a plasma pistol. There's one or two lying on the path ahead with 100% charge. You don't find one of those every day. Moving along, another downed dropship will come into view, only this one is a Covenant ship. There may be a couple of jackals hanging out near here, but after a few charged plasma shots, they'll retreat. Don't follow. Get directly in front of the Covenant dropship and look up at it. There's a path to the left of it that goes around the tree it's propped up against. Walk up the hill and take the path around. Keep turning right and trying to walk up higher on the hill and you'll see a huge fallen tree stretching across a depression. Continue around and you'll end up behind and much higher than a group of jackals. Zoom in and gun down a few with the pistol. Once they get their bearings and start to shoot back, send off a few charged shots then retreat. Walk back the way you came to the Covenant dropship and continue on the normal way. Now some of the surviving jackals may have their backs turned and should be easy prey. Zoom in and shoot off a few rounds, then switch to charged plasma shots until you have to retreat. Go back and forth and attack them from both positions until they're all dead. Now you can go back and grab the second health pack.

Hop up onto the log and walk across. Hey, wait. What are those yellow blips on your motion tracker? Never mind, they're probably nothing. While you're walking across, stop for a second and turn right. See that pipe? There's an active camouflage just to the left of it hidden back in some bushes. You'll be wanting to save that for later.

At the end of the log, hop up onto the ridge and get into the Shade on the right. Aim for the lit area in front of the tunnel. A whole boatload of grunts and jackals will come pouring out of here, apparently getting their butts kicked by marines. Carpet the area with plasma as they flee. Keep shooting and aim for any gaps in the trees. Eventually these guys will notice you're a sitting duck and start firing back. That would be a good time to get out and duck back behind the ridge. Toss a couple of grenades towards the bad guys then go grab that active camouflage. It's a little hard to get to the alcove where it's hidden. Look for a little ridge that leads up to the left. Once you have it, get back to where the Covenant are gathered. Just start beating them down. Hit them from behind, of course, and try to finish off all the jackals before you become visible. Any leftover Covenant should be no problem. Grab one of their plasma pistols if you're running low and go back for health pack #3 if you're not already maxed out. Move into the structure and hit the switch to ride the elevator down.

There's a whole pile of Covenant in this next room, but they're all packed in the doorway and won't be able to see you when you arrive. Run behind one of the energy shields and take a look. They're just sitting there, waiting to die. Bounce a grenade or two into the middle of the group. Open fire with the plasma pistol after they go off. Mop up any survivors that stay in the room, but don't pursue any that leave. There should be a ton of plasma pistols lying around from the explosion and were going to use up as many as necessary. Charge up your pistol, open the door ahead, and nail the nearest jackal. Fire off a few more shots if you can then

36 duck back under cover. Just keep peeking in and hosing down the area with plasma until all of the jackals are toast. Now all of those jackals have littered the next area with plasma pistols, so we get to do it all over again.

Take a look around the room. There are two levels to the place. The exit is on the lower level on your right. The remaining Covenant should be clustered around this door. Stay on the upper level and move up against the right wall. Look down on the enemies below. There should be a pillar coming out of the wall on the right at the edge of the ledge. It's just perfect size for you to hide behind. Peek out and start sending charged plasma shots into the group of Covenant. Once you empty a plasma pistol, go back and grab another. Once the number of Covenant down there has dwindled considerably, you can find the fullest plasma pistol and hop down to finish off the rest in person. Here's yet another pile of plasma pistols for you to use in your next battle. There's also a health pack on the far side of the room somewhat hidden behind the large pile of Covenant boxes. You shouldn't need it now, and you'll be coming back later, so leave it.

The door ahead leads to a square hallway that leads to the next big room. There are five jackals guarding the exit to this room on your left. Toss a grenade or two into the mix and start sending charged plasma shots over to soften them up. Retreat into the doorway to recharge and keep sending charged plasmas shots in until they've been taken care of. Go back whenever you need to pick up another pistol or grenades. Run in and finish off the last one with a couple of punches to the face if he's being annoying. Once these guys are dead, you can relax. You won't have to fight anything for a while.

The next square hall leads you to... an empty room. Creepy. One thing to note is that there are several needlers lying on the ground to the right between the two Shades. And there are clips of needles lying there too. This is one of two places (both on this level) where you can see needler clips. They are nowhere else in the game. Hmm... maybe Bungie is trying to tell us something. While needlers are very useful for some of the battles ahead of you, I wouldn't pick one up now. To get out of here, you have to jump on the short platform above the needlers and go through the door.

Another square hallway leads to a room where some serious combat took place. The crazed marine here still gives me the willies. I hate to say it, but you should put him out of his misery. He's got ammunition for the pistol, which is scarce on this level. Plus, he's just going to get his insides scrambled by some... uh, never mind. You haven't gotten there yet. Head to the back of the room and jump up on the rubble to get to the upper level. Exit through the door above the one you used to enter.

After another hall you'll be on the upper level of the room with the needlers. Hit the switch to activate the light bridge. Move across and look for an assault rifle on the ground. It should be right in front of the door. Pick it up and ditch your plasma pistol. Reload it and head through the door.

Look around this room and you'll find two ramps down to the lower level. The one on the left has two health packs and some ammo. Don't grab the health unless you really need to. You shouldn't be too badly injured. You've hardly fought anything yet. Go down a ramp and walk up to the door to trigger a cutscene.

The Flood

Look around the room. There are four groups of enemies that are going to attack in succession. Each group seems to be triggered by killing off a large fraction of the previous group. The first will come out of the door directly in front of you across the room. The second group will come out of the door nearby on your right. The third group will be coming out of the far door on the left. The last group comes out of the door you used to enter this room. And on

37 your left you'll find a bunch of assault rifle ammo as well as pistol ammo. Move over this ammo and fill up. Then head to the back of the room and get out your assault rifle for the first group of Flood. As the door bursts open, start firing. These guys are the infection form of the Flood. You can just let small numbers pop themselves on your shield or smack them with your melee attack, but large numbers can be a problem. If one of these guys hits you while your shield is down, he will eat you alive, literally. So empty a full clip at least on them then head to the next door. Once you're in front of the next door you can fire off a few rounds at any stragglers from the first group or smack them if they jump at you. Once the door starts to give way though, turn back towards it and open fire on this group as soon as you can. Again empty a full clip at least then move to the next door. Once you've got the next door covered, pop any wandering Flood nearby until the door starts to open. Burn through another couple of clips until almost all the little guys are gone. Don't worry about gunning down the last few. Get to the final door. Remember it's the one you came in through. More infection Flood will be coming in along with their big brothers, the combat Flood. Again you can take a second to off any leftover infection Flood until you hear the ominous thud of the door being bashed open. Drop a plasma grenade right in front of the door and back up. Plasma grenades are not normally good to use against the Flood because the Flood are faster then you. Most of the time, you'll end up sticking a grenade to a Flood who will promptly run right up in your face and explode. They work well though when you drop them on the floor as you're retreating. The Flood will run right over them as they explode. So drop one for these guys as they enter the room and open fire. It should take out almost all of the infection Flood leaving the combat Flood for you to deal with. The key to dealing with combat Flood is to keep moving, preferably backwards while shooting at them. So basically you want to keep circling the room backwards shooting at anything you can. Don't get too close to the wall or you may get pushed into a corner. That would be bad. Circling the two raised areas in the middle of the room seems to work well. Use the assault rifle against multiple targets and at close range. The pistol works better against a single target at medium to long range. Just keep pouring on the hurt until they all go down, get back up, and go down again. Whew. Your first battle with the Flood is over. Go fill up on ammo.

Step through the door and look up one of the ramps. There is another group of Flood up there so fire off a few shots to get their attention then retreat into the room. If you're really low on health, grab one of the health packs before setting them off. Drop a plasma grenade in the doorway as you're retreating and then open fire when you see the combat Flood coming in. There aren't as many in this group. A few clips from the assault rifle should do it. Fill up again after the battle. Head up one of the ramps and grab a health pack, even if you don't really need it.

Moving along you'll see a bunch of Covenant and Flood duking it out. Ignore these guys for now. Stay on the upper level and exit through the door on the right. After another hall you'll end up in a room full of Flood. Head to the right or left and back yourself up into a corner. Normally this would be a suicidal tactic against the Flood, but I got a plan. Fire off a few dozen assault rifle rounds at the ground below to get the attention of everything in the room. Snipe at any Flood that jump up to the upper level with your pistol then switch to the assault rifle when they get too close. You can move around a bit, but try to stay near the corner. Once the upper level is clear, get back into the corner and face the middle of the room. The Flood on the lower level will be mindlessly trying to get to you, so they should be right below you in a big pile. Look for them congregating on your motion tracker. In front of you is a pillar, but in between the very corner of the walkway you're on and the pillar is a little gap, just big enough for a grenade. Toss one (either kind will work) through the little gap and it should drop down into their midst. A few seconds later, BOOM, all the Flood die in a messy explosion. If you can still hear a lot of Flood moving around down there, drop another. Maybe try a different kind. Follow it down and clean up any survivors. Leave through the door below the one you used to enter and follow the hall back to the previous room.

The battle between the Flood and the Covenant should be dying down by now. Peek in and gun down anything nearby with the pistol then retreat into the doorway. Hose down anybody who comes in after you with the assault rifle. Drop a grenade in the doorway if it looks like a

38 whole lot of Flood are coming at once. Repeat until the room has been cleansed of enemies. The Shade in here works well against Flood, but I'd only recommend using it once the number of enemies is very small. Now you can go back the way you came through the gore-spattered hall then through the door on the right.

The next room has both Flood and Covenant again. Wait around in the doorway for a moment and they should notice each other and start fighting. Once they're finished you can take out a Flood or two with the pistol then retreat into the hall and whip out your assault rifle. Mow down anything that shows its ugly mug. Drop a grenade if things get really nasty. Keep popping in and sniping with the pistol then falling back and tearing through pursuers with the assault rifle until there are no more Flood around. Move into the room now and look for stragglers. After you're through down here, you'll have to get back to the upper level. To get up there you have to jump on the Covenant boxes in the corner. Behind these boxes is a health pack (unless you picked it up earlier) so grab it if you need it. After you jump up look around the upper deck and kill off any jackals or grunts that may be hiding up here. There's a door open right next to where the Covenant were, but we don't want to go there yet. That is the way ahead, but we have some more Flood to kill. You can peek in here and snag some assault rifle ammo though if you're running low. We want to go directly across from this door to the other side of the room. Hit the switch and walk across the light bridge.

Now you're back at the elevator you used to get down here. Maybe you can ride it back up. You can use the same strategy here you've been using. Peek in and get their attention by gunning down a few with the pistol then fall back and drop a grenade in their path. Waste any survivors with the assault rifle. Repeat until the room is clear. Move in and hit the switch to activate the elevator. Aww, sad. It's broken. I guess you'll have to find another ride up.

Go back into the previous room and through the door on the far side. Here you can finally grab yourself a shotgu... oh wait. This is Legendary. No shotgun for you! That would make things too easy. There is an awful lot of ammo here though and two health packs so fill up.

After a little hall and an empty room with a cool lightning thingy, you'll come to another elevator. Maybe this one will take you out of this hellhole. You know what to do. Peek in and snipe at one with the pistol. Fall back and drop a grenade if a whole swarm comes after you. Blow away the rest with your assault rifle. Once the room is clear, go back and fill up then hop on the elevator and ride it... down. You'll get a checkpoint as you're riding the elevator. Save and quit when you hit it. This is always a good idea when you know you won't have to go back, but it may come in especially useful here.

Crap. Well it looks like you're just going deeper down into this little nightmare. But wait. It gets worse. While you've been riding the elevator, they've been learning how to use guns. And you get your first peek of Flood-infected marines. Recognize anybody? This room can be pretty tough. Turn on your flashlight while you're riding down and get your pistol ready. As soon as you land run out and gun down the nearest Flood. Keep moving and finding new targets quickly. Go for the guys with the assault rifles if you have a choice. They can really hurt. Keep shooting until you empty your pistol clip then switch quickly to your assault rifle so you can keep firing. There are usually only four armed combat Flood in here, but it seems like more. After a great deal of shooting, the room will be yours. Hop up on the big pile of Covenant boxes and grab the over shield.

There are a couple of marines in this next room, but they are most certainly going to die within seconds. So don't bother trying to save them. Grab one of the active camouflages and hose down any Flood on your side of the upper level. Spraying bullets while invisible pretty much negates the stealth factor, so expect to get smacked around a bit. Switch to the pistol and gun down any on the other side. Stay on the upper level and shoot at the Flood down below. They tend to cluster beneath you, so while you're still invisible try to throw grenades down at any groups. Once your active camouflage wears off, they'll be less likely to sit around while you toss grenades at them. So once you're visible, just keep moving around and trying

39 to find spots where you can shoot down at the Flood with your pistol. Once you've taken most of them out, grab the second active camouflage and drop down to finish off survivors. Just mow them all down as usual.

Now you may retrieve the almighty shotgun. It's not always here, but often one of the marines or one of the Flood will be carrying it. Comb the room looking for it. If you find one, ditch your assault rifle in favor of it. It's the ultimate Flood-killing machine. Just make sure to keep it full of shells. Reload as often as possible. If you can't find the shotgun, I'd suggest reverting to your saved game on the elevator. This is why it's good to save your game there. Exit through the blood-spattered door that's been torn to pieces.

This next hallway has a few Flood hiding in rooms on either side. Put that shotgun to work. You should wait until they're relatively close, but be careful. If they hit you as you're firing, you'll waste the shot. And when in doubt, shoot them again.

The next room is pretty standard. There's more pistol ammo in the back next to a health pack, so use up those rounds. Shotgun anybody who gets too close. Clear out the lower level first then move around looking for a good view of the Flood on the upper level. Take them out with the pistol. Once you're tired of sniping at them head to the back of the room. Jump up on the flaming pile of rubble and grab the pistol ammo and the health pack. Run up and blast any remaining Flood with the shotgun. Leave through the open door on the upper level.

The next hall should be empty. It leads to the upper level of the room you were in before. Things should be quiet around here unless you missed a Flood earlier. Head straight across to exit. This next hall may have a Flood or two. Nothing you can't handle. Keep on moving.

Enter the next room and head straight for one of the corners. You remember this trick. Shotgun any Flood on the upper level as they get close using the pillar for cover. By now everybody on the lower level is clustered beneath you. So back up into the corner, face the middle of the room and toss a grenade into that little gap between the walkway and the pillar. If you still hear lots of commotion, drop another or a different kind. Drop down and blow away any survivors. Exit through the door on the lower level that's been ripped open.

Peek into this next room and blast somebody with either weapon. As the Flood on the lower level run at you, give each one a shotgun shell to the face. Back up to recharge and repeat if you need to. Now you're free to move into the room and take potshots at any Flood on the upper levels with your pistol. Try to finish most of them off. To the left of the door you came in through is an unlocked door. It's the one on the little platform. Through this door is a bunch of Flood and not much else, so taking them out isn't necessary. It's a lot of fun though, so run in and clean house with your shotgun.

The way ahead is directly across the room from the door you came in through. So after you're through blasting all the Flood in the area, go there. You'll know you're headed the right way if you run into a bunch of Flood in this hall. Shotgun shells for the lot of them. Don't worry about conserving ammo. You're about to get a lot more.

Once you're through in the hall, peek into the next room. This should be pretty easy for you by now. Run in and clear out the lower level with some crazy shotgun action. The upper floor can be taken out a number of ways. You can stay down below and snipe with the pistol or you can jump up there and finish them off with the shotgun. To get up you have to jump on the bloody fallen pillar. It's a tough jump, but you can do it. On this pillar you'll find a health pack, which you can feel free to grab, and a ton of needler and shotgun ammo. Here's the other spot where you can find needler clips. Ignore these until you've finished cleaning out the upper level. Once you have the room under control, switch out your pistol for a needler. Fill up on everything and get your shotgun ready. There are two exits from this room, not counting the way you came in. They're both on the same side, one on top of the other. Let's take the one on the upper floor first.

40 This next hall is empty and leads you to another platform with a switch for a bridge. Don't hit the switch. Shotgun any Flood on your side and use the needler on the Flood on the other side. Spend the rest of your needles on any Flood down below. Now we get to go back and clean out the lower level. Exit the way you came and go back through the hall. Now you should be back in the room with all the needler and shotgun ammo. Fill up then go through the door on the lower level below the one you just came back through.

This hall is not empty. Keep your shotgun up and spend as many shells as you want. There's plenty around. Take out one side completely then the other. Once the hall is yours, move into the room ahead. The upper floor should be clear, so just run out and put a shotgun shell into each of the Flood. Keep moving and these guys will go down easy. Now that everything's been cleared out, you can move back up to extend the bridge. Head back the way you came and hop up onto the bloody pillar. Fill up one last time. Head out the door on the upper level again.

Now you can extend the bridge. A whole mess o' Flood is about to come pouring through the door on the other side of the bridge and you've got two ways to deal with them. You can hang back and use the needler long-range. This works well and allows you to find cover if necessary. It also allows you to turn the bridge off if they start to pour across in droves. Remember you can turn the bridges back off. Or you could run across as fast as possible and take them all out with the shotgun and grenades. This works well, but is obviously a little riskier. If you choose the more aggressive route, just keep tossing grenades in the doorway and blasting away with the shotgun. Once they stop coming, take a deep breath. You're almost done with this level. If you want to be extra careful, you can go back and switch out your needler for a pistol. Either pick up the one you dropped earlier or look for one amongst the bodies. Otherwise move into the room ahead and check around to make sure everybody's totally dead. Don't worry about filling up down here. Just ride the elevator.

Finally, an elevator that takes you out of here! You get to talk to Foe Hammer and chat with your marine buddies and fill up on health and shotgun ammo and everything. Run out into the swamp and you should get a checkpoint. This is another one you'll want to save. You're full of health and shotgun ammo and that's all you'll need. This area is pretty big, but you basically want to keep moving forward and blasting any Flood nearby before they get to your marines. Just what you'd expect. Eventually you'll come to a narrow pass. It's the only way forward and it's basically booby trapped. So wait for your marines to catch up before going through. Once they're with you, take off running. A whole bunch of infection and combat Flood will leap down on you from above. The marines should distract them long enough for you to get away. They're isn't really a way to save them here, so the least they can do is be used as an effective diversion.

Once you're through the pass you still have a fierce battle ahead. Keep blasting any Flood within range and reloading as you go. The depression you're in opens up now so it's a little hard to give directions, but you want to turn left now and eventually circle around to your right. There's a tall structure in the middle you're heading for, but you'll encounter less resistance if you approach it from behind. After the mass of enemies seems to be behind you, start to circle right and look for lights on the ground. Keep moving ahead and the structure should loom out of the fog. I have no idea what this building is for, but there are four huge pipes that extend out of its sides and plunge into the ground. Run alongside one of the pipes towards the structure and it will lead you into a little alcove. You can stay right here with the pipe on one side of you and part of structure itself extending out on the other side. With your back and sides covered you can wait out the rest of the battle blasting any Flood that get too suspicious with your remaining shotgun rounds. Eventually 343 Guilty Spark will show up and beam you away. Pat yourself on the back. You've survived your first encounter with the Flood.

7. The Library

Wow, somebody really screwed up. The Flood has been released and now you're being ordered around by some AI to go kill a bunch of stuff for reasons you don't entirely understand. Sound

41 familiar? Anyway, this level is full of Flood. Wave after endless wave of them. Soon you will know just how aptly they were named.

The Library

There are many reasons to dislike 343 Guilty Spark. The fact that he takes away your shotgun is one of my favorites. You should remember how to use the assault rifle on the Flood though. It's not that bad. And you do get a pistol, which you'll basically be keeping throughout the entire level.

Move forward past the two big vents in the wall and look back behind you to your left. Tucked away in the corner is the first you'll see of a new form of the Flood. This is the carrier form. Following in a great Bungie tradition, this enemy's only attack is to hobble towards you and explode. They release several infection Flood when they do this as well. So if you're anywhere nearby not only do you get your shields knocked out by the explosion, but you'll also immediately get reamed by the infection forms. Fortunately they're really slow. So not only can you get away from them pretty easily, but you can also lead their friends into the explosion when they do go off. Two rounds from the pistol will detonate them quite nicely. So whenever you see a whole mess of combat forms near a carrier, put a couple of bullets into him and BOOM! He takes out all his pals for you. If you want to save the ammo you can just run right past them as well. They flop over and start to blow as you get close, but by the time they actually explode you've run past them. Running up and jumping over them works well too. One thing that does not work well is blowing them up with a grenade. That tends to send them flying around the room like little bomblets. One will inevitably come down right next to you and explode.

Take out this first carrier however you want and let the little guys pop themselves on your shield. Melee as many as you can and run around to let your shield recharge as necessary.

There are two pairs of carrier Flood hiding around the corners ahead so be careful of running away from one and backing into another. Take these out however you want. Four carriers shouldn't be a problem if no one else is around.

Get your pistol ready and move ahead. There are two vents in the wall on the left past the previous carriers. When you walk near them, a squad of angry Flood will drop down. Inch forward until you see a signature on your motion tracker then back up and get ready for them. Target the carrier Flood and take them out as soon as they drop down. Hopefully you'll catch a few combat forms in the explosion. Empty the rest of the pistol clip as you're retreating and back up around a corner so the Flood have to come all the way around the corner to shoot at you. Get out your assault rifle and look for them approaching on your motion tracker. As soon as you see a body part, toss a grenade at the corner and start firing. Back up as they get closer and keep burning through rifle rounds. As you're backing up, swing around so that your back is towards the beginning of the level so you don't get stuck in a corner. Retreat all the way to the beginning if you have to. Once they stop coming move ahead and look for any carriers hobbling along. Here's a big hint for the rest of the level. Don't pop carrier Flood when they're standing in a pile of bodies. First of all, they'll scatter the weapons all over the place making it nearly impossible to find them when you need them. And secondly, they'll detonate any grenades nearby often catching you in a massive chain reaction. So if you see a carrier Flood coming towards you, look at the ground to be sure he has lots of space to explode before rupturing him.

So anyway, lure any leftover carriers into an open space and run by them or shoot them if you wish. Now that the area is secure, scavenge for a shotgun. Even if it only has a few rounds of ammo, it's better than your assault rifle. You may need to turn on your flashlight to scavenge well in here. Oh, and look for grenades and pistol ammo too of course.

42 Move along past the vents those last guys came out of and look ahead. Multiple waves of Flood are going to come out of the next set of vents. The first group is already there. Several combat forms are waiting to ambush you just on the other side of the sloping walls with the lights you have to walk between. Peek in between them and snipe anybody on the other side. Eventually you'll probably get the attention of the Flood hiding on the other side of the wall, so be careful. When they come, back up, wrap them around a corner, drop a grenade, and blast them with your shotgun. Now you can go back to the rest of the waves coming out of the vents.

Use the same strategy you did with the last group that dropped out of the vents. Target carriers near combat forms first and use the pistol until they start to get close. Then back up around a corner and wait for them. Drop a grenade and open up with the shotgun as they come around the corner after you. This simple strategy will get you through most of the encounters on this level. After each wave is destroyed, take a moment to scavenge and then walk up to the vents to set off the next wave. It is worth noting that the number of waves seems to vary somewhat. Sometimes they'll all come in just a couple of big groups. Other times they trickle out in several smaller waves.

Once you can safely walk around under the vents without triggering more Flood, the area is secure. Make one last sweep through the place looking for goodies then move ahead. You'll be going through a tunnel that leads to the atrium that houses the index. Use tunnels like this one as bottlenecks to concentrate the Flood in small spaces. They're much easier to deal with if they're only coming from one direction a few at a time. Move through the tunnel and get the attention of any combat forms ahead. Duck back into the tunnel and give them a face full of buckshot if they pursue you. Once they're gone, stay near the tunnel and snipe the carriers. Now you have a whole load of infection forms to deal with. You could just run around trying to melee them, recharging as necessary, but there's a quicker way. Pick up any old weapon lying around and use that on them. You'll want to conserve your pistol and shotgun ammo, but that doesn't mean you can't pick up a plasma pistol or assault rifle and use that to hose them down. Once they're mostly gone, toss whatever you used on them and pick back up your real weapon.

The way out of this chamber is another tunnel to the left. If you ever get lost or don't know which way to go, look for the Monitor flying around. He glows bright blue and will lead you in the right direction. Here's another tunnel for you. Move through it and a combat Flood will come leaping at you. Stop and put a shotgun shell into him as soon as he lands. Drop a grenade right on top of his corpse and back up. The grenade should take out any Flood that follow. On the other side of the tunnel straight ahead are more vents in the wall. This time several waves will be coming down. To activate a wave, you have to move forward to around the spot where you wasted that first Flood who jumped at you. So move ahead until you see Flood dropping down then retreat into the chamber with the index. Whip out your pistol, zoom in looking down the tunnel and snipe at any carrier Flood near other Flood. After a few shots, the rest of the wave will come running down the tunnel to get to you. Switch to your shotgun and let them have it. Drop grenades when necessary. After each wave, scavenge what you can, reload everything, and then do it again. After a whole lot of waves, they will stop coming. Move in and thoroughly scavenge the area. You should be doing pretty well by now on shotgun shells, pistol ammo, and grenades.

The hall ahead has another wave of Flood in store for you. Move along and you'll see an infected marine leaping towards you. Immediately start in on him with your pistol. From now on, I'm not going to always explicitly mention that you should target carrier Flood when they're near combat forms. This should just always be a priority for the rest of the game. Anyway, keep backing up and firing until they start to get close. Back up through the tunnel into the index chamber and wait for them. When they come into the tunnel after you, drop a grenade and start firing. After they've been reduced to snot, move ahead. There will be one last combat Flood up on the sloping wall thingy on the right. Snipe him down with your pistol then head over to the giant door on the left.

43 Wait around by the door for the Monitor to return. You can continue down the hall if you want, but the only thing you'll find is a hoard of infection forms and nothing useful. So unless you just really like to watch them pop, I wouldn't bother.

Move through the door as it opens and you'll come to another huge hall. Here you have a choice. The Monitor is going right and that's the way ahead. But there's a health pack to the left, though it's guarded by about a hundred infection Flood. If you're really low on health, you should probably get the health pack before moving on. It's tucked away in the back corner as far away as possible. You'll activate a whole slew of the little guys, so lead them back to where you were and then pop them however you want. Grab a spare weapon, melee them, whatever. If you're in the blue, don't bother.

Moving along you'll find some more Flood to kill. Move slowly ahead and keep an eye on the motion tracker. As soon as you register movement, retreat. Keep your pistol up and start shooting Flood as they land. Move around a corner and blast them as they come around for you. Give the carriers some space then kill them off too. Same tactics you've been using.

The next battle is a trap. Move ahead past the previous skirmish and stay frosty. As soon as you see blips on your tracker, turn around and run back towards the big door. Flood will be dropping down in front of and behind you. Blast through the ones in your way with your shotgun then turn around and use your old tactics on the others. Pistol, corner, shotgun. You know the routine. And as always, remember to scavenge thoroughly.

Ahead the path will take a turn to the left. Many waves of Flood will come dropping down from vents high up in the walls here, so be careful. As soon as you see them, run away. Don't engage them from around the closest corner. You'll kill them off more quickly, but stand a greater chance of getting overwhelmed. Get a bit of distance on them then get their attention with your pistol. Apply standard Flood-killing tactics retreating as necessary. Move back up to set off the next wave. Repeat until no more come down to play with you.

Now you can safely take that turn to the left. At the end of this hall is another turn to the left, but before you get there a small wave of Flood will come out. Nothing you can't handle. Just back up when you see them coming and gun them down with your pistol.

Move past the bodies and the path will take you down a long hall. You will get a checkpoint then the Monitor will fly away and head through a vent at the end of the hall. One big group of Flood is about to come out of that vent. Another group will come from around the corner ahead on the right. Back up as they drop down and toss a grenade into the middle of either group. Keep nailing them with the pistol and toss another grenade if necessary. Back up around the corner if any combat Flood get through and waste them with your shotgun. Mop up the carriers and infection Flood and scavenge.

Just around the corner ahead is a health pack. As you move forward though three combat Flood will come leaping at you. Put a shotgun round into each of them as you back up around the corner. Three or four more combat Flood will soon come around following the previous ones, so put them each down in turn.

Move ahead now and grab the health pack if you need it. Down the nearby ramp is an over shield. You might want to hold off on grabbing it. The next battle will hopefully be very easy. Move into the next section down the hall. Several pillars and structures, but no bad guys. The section ahead has a little hallway off to the left. It's full of Flood. Slowly work your way around until you can just barely see a bit of Flood down there without setting them off. Bounce a frag grenade or two right into the middle of them. After they've gone off, move into this section and you'll trigger some carrier Flood to drop in from on your right. Any survivors from the grenades will come out as well. Take them down with your pistol/shotgun combo as usual.

44 If you haven't grabbed the over shield already, do so now. Move ahead past the previous fight until you see Flood dropping down far ahead in front of you. They are the first of many, but ignore them for now. This is another trap. Several carriers will appear behind you, so turn around and be ready for them. Move back towards where the over shield was and take each carrier out from a safe distance. Get rid of any infection forms quickly. You can probably afford to spare a few rounds on them by now. Now turn your attention to those guys that dropped down ahead of you. If they followed you back here, take them out with the shotgun as soon as possible. Otherwise, snipe at them from a manageable distance. They will be followed by many more waves of Flood all dropping down from the same vents at the end of the hall. Slowly whittle them down using the same tactics you've grown accustomed too. You will burn through a lot of ammunition, but eventually they will stop coming. Wade through the pile of bodies and restock your supplies.

Move ahead to the end of the hall and peek in all the nooks and crannies. There is a small group of carrier Flood here and they can sneak up on you if you're not careful. Take them out however you want and dispose of the infection forms.

You have one last fight ahead before you're done with the first floor. And you get some help this time. Move along and a large group of Flood will come down the hall after you while a group of the Monitor's Sentinels move in from the side to help. Plant a few grenades right in the middle of the incoming Flood then duck back into the area the Sentinels came from for cover. Hopefully the Sentinels will take out the rest of the Flood for you. Once the battle stops, go see who won. If there are Flood left, they should be easy prey for you by now. Scavenge through the bodies thoroughly then move ahead onto the lift to the second floor.

Wait, It Gets Worse!

Step off the elevator and move ahead into the hall. Several carrier Flood will come out of the vent to your right, so watch for them. Retreat towards the elevator and pop a few caps in their ass. Mop up the infection forms. Now you're free to cruise down the hall. You'll pick up a new batch of Sentinels along the way.

At the end of the hall the path takes a turn to the left. You'll come across several carrier forms wandering around after the turn. Let the Sentinels take care of them while you take a look around. There are two health packs down a ramp in this first area. You can grab one now if you need it. Move ahead until the Monitor leaves and you get the message to hold your position. Immediately turn around and hurry back towards the area with the two health packs. This is another trap. If you move ahead now a whole ton of Flood will come out of the woodwork and put the smack down on you. Better to stay back while the Monitor does his work. Once he comes back and opens the big door, you can move ahead safely. The massive horde of Flood won't show up. Of course if you want to fight them, you can do so quite effectively using the same tactics you honed on the pervious groups of Flood.

Either way eventually the Monitor will open the door ahead and you'll have another fight on your hands. The Sentinels will move through without you and might even start blasting at a group of distant Flood. You have two options now. You can run ahead and take a shortcut, or you can follow the intended path and face three more battles with the Flood. I'll cover both options starting with the shortcut.

If you want an easier time, run through the giant doorway past the Sentinels and right up to the edge overlooking the central chamber. Turn ninety degrees to your right and you will see a short, sloped wall. Run up and jump on top of it. It's high, but you can get up there. Hop down on the other side and continue along this little inner path around the central chamber. This same shortcut will work on the third floor when you have to get to the other side of the chamber up there. Keep on hopping until you can get back to the outer hall on your right. There's another huge door here, so walk up to it and the Monitor will pull his usual trick of making you wait for him to open it.

45 If you want to fight your way ahead, move up to help the Sentinels as quickly as possible. Notice the health pack and grenades just before the door on the way. Zoom in and snipe until they get close enough to start battling the Sentinels. It might be a little hard to aim accurately in all the confusion, but toss a grenade or two at the main group of Flood and empty a few pistol clips into the mob until they thin out or start coming for you. Then you can fall back and take them out with your shotgun as they get close. Hopefully most of the Sentinels survived.

Scavenge from the fallen Flood then move ahead and zoom in on the path ahead with your pistol. More Flood will come into view and start moving towards you. Shoot as quickly and accurately as you can. Definitely look for carriers to pop in the group. Once they get close they tend to bunch up and start firing at you and the Sentinels. Toss a grenade into the pack and keep firing. Once it goes off, run in and clean house with your shotgun. Scavenge and move ahead.

The next group includes one of the most despised enemies in the game. A Flood with a rocket launcher. These guys are deadly accurate and aren't afraid to take out all of their friends as long as they catch you in the explosion. Zoom in like you did before and take him out as soon as possible. Finish off the rest of the Flood like you did the previous ones. Keep on them with the pistol until they get close and bunch up. Grenade them then follow up with the shotgun. This time there may not be any Sentinels left to distract them, so be ready to take a lot of heat once the last of them goes down. Back up and keep doling out shotgun shells until they're all dead. Scavenge the area thoroughly and find that rocket launcher. Switch out your pistol for it. Rocket launchers on this level aren't really worth saving. Pick them up and use them on the first enemies you see then toss them and get your pistol back. You also don't want to run all the way back here to get your pistol. So keep switching out the two weapons, moving forward. If you get the rhythm right, you can move pretty quickly, constantly tossing one weapon in front of you while picking up another. Of course you have to stop when you need to turn, but you don't need to carry it far. Just past the next big door is fine. This trick is obviously very useful throughout the game, but it's especially useful for getting rocket launchers around on this level.

So now regardless of which route you took, you should be ready to move through the giant door once the Monitor opens it for you. Again, you will have a choice: right or left. This time right is the only way to go. There's nothing but infection forms to the left. Get that rocket launcher ready (if you have one). Run ahead and as you round the corner a whole bunch of combat forms will come running up a ramp in front of you. Send a rocket right into the middle of them and watch them fly. Use up the rest of the rockets on anything nearby then go back and get your pistol. If you don't have a rocket launcher, a well-placed grenade works just as well. Make sure the area up here has been thoroughly cleansed then grab the health pack on the backside of one of the nearby pillars. Next, head down the ramp to the tunnels below.

There are several carrier Flood down here, but you can take them out from a safe distance. Just be careful going around corners. As you approach the end of the tunnel, get your shotgun ready. As you move out into the open, a combat form will drop down right in front of you. Put a shell into him then switch to your pistol and retreat into the tunnel. Zoom in and take out anything that comes down after you. If a whole lot of Flood come down the tunnel at once, you may have to back up all the way around the corner and shotgun them as they come around. Move ahead up the ramp and look for more Flood. Retreat into the tunnel as necessary and eventually the area up here will be clear of Flood.

Move around the corner ahead to trigger the next wave of Flood. They will drop down from near the ceiling. Back up to where the ramp meets the floor you're on and wait for them to come around the corner. Apply shotgun shells and grenades as necessary. Once you've dispatched each wave, move up to trigger the next. Use the same tactics for each and if things get too hot, feel free to move back into the tunnel. It's much safer in there. Scavenge through the bodies once they stop coming.

46 Move ahead, but be careful. The path will take a turn to the right after you pass the vents the last guys came out of. At the end of this next hall lurks another Flood with a rocket launcher. There are also many carrier forms nearby, so zoom in with your pistol and carefully peek around enough to pop a few carriers. Keep moving around sniping anything you can. If they come after you, use your motion tracker and run them into either a grenade or your shotgun. If you can take them all out from a distance, that's even better. If you see a rocket coming down the hall, run away! Once these guys are toast, move ahead and collect the goodies. There's a health pack at the end of the hall on the left. There should also be two rocket launchers lying around. Don't pick up either yet. Move around the corner ahead and a small group of Flood will come after you. These guys aren't worth wasting a rocket on. Just back up around a corner and shotgun them. One infected marine will stay on the little wall around the corner instead of pursuing you, so peek around and snipe him down. Now you can switch out your pistol for a rocket launcher. Be careful not to run over one of the launchers while you're carrying the other. You'll pick up the extra ammo, but waste any rockets that are already chambered. It's not a big deal, but, hey, one rocket can be a big help. So put your pistol and one rocket launcher in a safe place then move ahead.

Move through the section with the ramp to the section with the pillars and things. As you approach, a few carriers will appear to the left and a few combat forms will drop down from the vent on the right. Send a rocket towards the middle of the combat Flood then retreat. Get a bit of distance then finish off anybody who comes after you with your shotgun. Reload everything then do it again. Once you run out of ammo in one rocket launcher switch it out for some random weapon lying around then switch that out for the other rocket launcher. Now you'll have more rockets and can continue blowing things up. Grab your old pistol once you've expended both rocket launchers. By the time you get your pistol back, there shouldn't be any more Flood coming out of those vents.

Move to the end of the hall and a whole ton of carriers will appear out of nowhere. Turn back the way you came and retreat, carefully blasting through a couple of them on the way. Once you're quite certain all of the carriers are behind you, turn around and pick them off from a distance. As long as you aren't surrounded, these guys should be pretty easy.

Now you're clear to move onto the elevator and head to the next floor. You'll encounter some minor resistance if you wait around near the elevator, but nothing really nasty. Just run straight ahead and you'll breeze past these losers.

But I Don't Want to Ride the Elevator!

Step off the elevator and head into the hall. Moving along, you'll pick up a shiny new batch of Sentinels. Lead them ahead around the corner and you'll encounter a small group of Flood. The Sentinels can sometimes win this battle by themselves, but you'd better give them some help. Just run up and off a couple of Flood nearby then let them finish off the rest. After they've stopped firing, pick off any Flood that may be out of their sight. There's a health pack up on the little sloped wall on the right past the ramp. And there's a rocket launcher tucked away at the end of the hall on the left. Look for it next to a Flood corpse. Rocket launchers are always handy, so you might want to bring this along. Try the trick of continually dropping weapons in front of you as you move to get the launcher, pistol, and shotgun all down the ramp and into the tunnel with you. Be sure to scavenge here as well, since you can get shotgun shells and pistol ammo.

Down the tunnel and around the corner is a long corridor with several combat forms at the end. Zoom in with your pistol and take them all out from a distance. Move forward a bit and a horde of infection forms will appear. Shoot a few bullets into the mass and let the rest pop themselves on your shield. There are a few carriers around the corner, so peek around and take them out too.

47 As you move ahead you'll see a ramp leading up out of the tunnel. There's a battle starting at the top that you may not want to get caught in. Peek out and try to gun down a few Flood, but retreat into the tunnel whenever things get even slightly nasty. Now would be a good time to use those rockets if you lugged them up here. Shoot them all off, then run back and pick your other weapon up again. Take advantage of the Sentinels as long as you can, but once they've been destroyed, get back in the tunnel. You can take out the rest of the Flood from here. Snipe with the pistol then back up around the corner and shotgun the rest. Scavenge. You know the drill.

Head away from your last battle and down the long hall. Keep going until you get the message to hold your position until the Monitor returns. Yeah, right. Don't hold your position. Run like hell back to the long hall you just came from. A big pile of Flood will come after you so toss grenades, aim for carriers, shotgun everybody, and keep retreating as long as necessary. After you finish off this initial wave, wait around in the hallway. Don't go back to area where you triggered the last group unless you're looking for another big fight. It may take a couple of minutes, but eventually the Monitor will come back and open the door ahead. Once he does so, you can move ahead without triggering any enemies. Snag the health pack if you need it.

Once again you have a choice of paths. You can run up to the edge of the chamber turn left and jump over the little wall. This maneuver was a good shortcut on the previous floor, but this time it will put you in a bad position, so I'm going to suggest you proceed the normal way.

Around the corner ahead to the left is yet another group of Flood. One of these guys has a rocket launcher, so gun them down fast. You might not want to use a grenade since that will blast the rocket launcher far away, and you're going to want it soon. So put these guys down quickly with your shotgun then toss your pistol and pick up the rocket launcher.

Ahead another small group of Flood will come running towards you. Use those rockets. Just blow these guys away. Go back and grab your pistol when you run out of rockets.

Move ahead. A few Flood will jump up onto some blocks in the area ahead. Send your last rockets at them if you have any left, then switch to your pistol. Take the rest of these guys out like normal. Pistol at long range then wrap them around a corner and hit 'em with the shottie.

Head through the big door and grab the health pack and grenades if you need them. Ahead a few Flood will jump out of one of the little trenches at you. Put each one down as they land then back up around a corner. More Flood will come around after you, but a few shotgun shells and possibly a grenade should finish them off easily enough. Peek out and snipe down the one Flood on the right wall that didn't hop down with his pals.

Ahead the path will turn left and multiple waves of bad guys will fall down from vents near the ceiling. You've been in situations like this before. Retreat so you only face one wave at a time then deal with them as usual.

After you've cleared these guys out, you have a bit of a walk. Keep moving along and you'll come upon some Flood bodies. Scavenge around a bit. There should be some ammo for what you're carrying around here.

After that, you'll come to a big door that's open just enough for you to get through into the next room. As you walk through the door, look to your right. There's a little alcove there that you will be retreating back to very shortly. In this room there are three health packs. Two are behind the columns to the left. Grab one now if you want. Once you're set, walk under the Monitor. He's waiting by the other big door. As soon as he moves away and you get the message to wait, run like hell back to that little alcove. You'll see the door you came through closing. Tons of Flood are about to fill this room. And if you kill them, more and more waves

48 will come. This battle can be one of the toughest in the game. Or it can ridiculously easy. If you stay in that alcove and keep your mouth shut, they won't ever know you're there.

Wait around for a couple of minutes and eventually the Monitor will come back and open the door ahead. The Flood will all follow him through the door and begin battling a contingent of Sentinels. While they're running away, you can move in behind them and nail them once they bunch up under the Sentinels. Toss a grenade into the middle of them and start blasting with the shotgun. If you keep getting your butt kicked here, just wait a little longer before coming out of your hiding place and the Sentinels will do more of the work for you.

After everybody's dead, scavenge and look for a rocket launcher. There should be one among the bodies. Snag it and drop your pistol, but of course remember where since you'll be grabbing it again in a second. And don't forget about those health packs back in the room of death. Go grab one if you need it.

Rounding the corner the Sentinels will begin firing upon yet another group of Flood. Wait around for a second and the Flood will tend to bunch up on the ground. Send a rocket right into the middle of them. Wait around a few more seconds and the Flood will just keep coming. Once they've bunched up a second time send 'em another rocket. Fire off any extra rockets then run in and take out any survivors with your shotgun up close. Go back and grab your pistol again.

Keep moving and you can run right onto the elevator to finish out this floor. A few pathetic carriers might drop down nearby, but I think you can handle them.

Fourth Floor: Tools, Guns, Keys to Super Weapons

OK, last floor. Move ahead into the hall. There are several carriers hiding around the corners here, so be cautious. A Sentinel here will provide a bit of help, but you'll have to pop most of these guys. There will also be a health pack right in front of you as you step into the hall. There will probably be a carrier left at the end of the hall as well, so check those nooks and crannies before moving on.

This next battle is a tough one, but use the same old tactics and you'll come out on top. Run around the corner and a big wave of Flood will drop down from vents near the ceiling. Sound familiar? Just fall back like normal and take them out as they come around the corner after you. These waves are pretty big and there are a lot of them, so be generous with the firepower. Retreat all the way back to the elevator if you have to. After a great many waves, they'll stop coming and the way will be clear. Scavenge around thoroughly then move ahead.

Head down the tunnel and take out any carriers lurking down here. This next battle can be very annoying because it's a trap. As you exit the tunnel, several carriers will spawn behind you. So when you try to retreat, BOOM, you get blown to bits. You can handle the situation one of two ways. You can just not retreat into the tunnel. Run up and dive into the melee, blasting a few guys, then running around a corner up there for safety. It's actually not as difficult as it sounds. This is the easier route in my opinion. Many, many Flood will come after you, but you won't face more then a few at a time and as long as you stay around a corner, you'll be fine. If you're more methodical and need the shelter of the tunnel, you'll have to run up and peek out then run back and blast the carriers waiting in the tunnel. Once they've detonated, run through the mess and get you pistol ready for any pursuers. A few Flood will probably come down with you and you can take them out. Then you'll have to repeat the process again, and again. There are many waves of carriers set to spawn behind you, but eventually you can kill them all and clear the path behind you. Each time you run back through them a few Flood will follow. So you should be able to take out the rest of the guys up top with little trouble. Once you're ready to leave the tunnel for good, there's a health pack

49 lying around for you. And there's another one in the ditch ahead if you've already used that one up.

Move along around another corner or two and eventually a slew of carriers will drop down all around you. Turn around and blast your way through a couple to clear a path then take the rest out long range once they're all safely on one side of you. Past the carriers you'll run into another small group of Flood as you round a corner. Take these guys out as usual. Snipe a bit if you can then hit them as they come around the corner after you. There are several carriers amongst the group to work with as well.

Look behind the pillars ahead and you'll find a rocket launcher and a health pack. Swap out your pistol for the rocket launcher and toss them around until your pistol is in a more open area closer to the big door ahead. You're going to want it back after you fire off those rockets.

Alright. This is it. The last battle of the level. Move towards the big door to begin. The door will only open part way before Flood start jumping through to get to you. Put a shotgun shell into each of these guys as soon as they land. Once the door fully opens, a deluge of Flood will come after you. Toss a couple of grenades and shoot two rockets into the approaching mass. Retreat and reload. Don't get backed up into a corner. As long as you stay on the path you used to get here, you'll be ok. Just keep backing up and going through rockets. Once you're out of rockets, run back and grab your pistol. Keep retreating and reload after each couple of shotgun shells so there isn't too long a pause in the damage you're dishing out. Use up all the grenades you have if you need to. Toss them at any groups. Eventually, you'll be left with a long string of Flood corpses and little ammo. Scavenge through the bodies moving back up to the last big door. Just after the door there are a couple of Flood perched up on ledges on either side of the door. Toss a grenade at them or gun them down with your pistol. Be careful not to move into the next room or you'll risk triggering the next wave.

Now once again you have two choices. An easy route and a route that allows you the satisfaction of killing everything. I'll go over the easy route first.

If you want to just run for it, head out the door and take a left. That's right. Not towards the index. Just run as fast as you can into the chamber on the left. Once you're in there, head towards the edge overlooking the central area with the index. Once you're on the edge, turn ninety degrees to your right and you will see a little sloped wall. Run up and jump on top of it. It's high, but you can get up there. Fall down on the other side and make a beak for the index. You should get there fairly easily.

If you want to be more thorough, you can deal with the rest of these Flood in the traditional way. Move into the chamber and more waves of Flood will come from the area near the index. Fortunately none of these are as nasty as that initial wave. Just keep cool and go through the ammo. Scavenge whenever there is a brief lull. There are many, many waves of enemies, but none of them is really that difficult. Just stick to your old tactics of retreating and wrapping them around corners and you'll do fine. Eventually you will have killed every Flood in the area. Once you've accomplished that, the index is yours for the taking. Saunter on up and snatch it.

Congratulations. Now that you're a both a seasoned Flood-killer and Covie-killer, the rest of the game should be a breeze, right?

8. Two Betrayals

Great! Now everyone's trying to kill you! At least the three different factions who want you dead are trying to kill each other as much as they're trying to kill you.

50 This level does take you back through the same terrain as Assault on the Control Room, but wait a second before sticking that grenade to your head. You get to fly over it! Well, ok, a little of it. This is still a really long level. Get comfortable.

You are immediately beset upon by four Sentinels. Run and take cover behind the transparent shielding. Get out your plasma pistol and take out each Sentinel with a charged shot. Plasma weapons work great on these guys. Run up and hit the switch on the right to open the door.

The Gun Pointed at the Head of the Universe

This next battle is a nasty one. The Covenant will easily take out these Sentinels if you don't intercede, and you don't want that. You want them to kill each other off down to the last man, so toss a frag grenade or two into the middle of the Covenant group as soon as you see them. This will be a very long throw, but you just got a checkpoint, so you can restart if your aim is way off. Hopefully this will not only kill off most of the grunts, but also blow their weapons your way. After the initial elite and grunts, a second group consisting of an elite and two jackals will come out to fight. Try to work it so the elites get killed before the Sentinels. You can fire off a few charged plasma bolts, but don't get too close. If you do, some of the Sentinels will turn their attention towards you. Once they do, you'll have to take them out quickly. Try not to let that happen.

Once the Sentinels are scrap, pick up a needler if one got blasted your way and use it on any remaining elites. Use charged shots from your plasma pistol if you don't have a needler. Run right up to the elites as you're sending them charged shots then switch to your shotgun and blast them. Finish off the jackals with more charged plasma shots. That's a lot of plasma to go through, so pick up another plasma pistol whenever you can. Pressing yourself up against either wall and crouching will provide cover, but not very much. So you'll have to do most of this battle without recharging. Once everything is dead, put your shotgun in a very safe place and grab a needler, plasma pistol, and all the grenades you can carry.

Next comes another tough battle. Open the first door and move through. Immediately after opening the next big door that leads outside, retreat. A bunch of grunts will come wandering in after you and you want to keep your distance. Take these guys out with charged plasma shots. Back up to the site of the previous battle to recharge. Keep blasting until the grunts are dead. Now you have two jackals and two elites to deal with. Get as close as you dare then look for an open enemy. If it's an elite, fire off a clip of needles towards him. If it's a jackal, fire off a charged plasma shot. Use the stationary shields if you're feeling courageous, but be careful of jackals dropping them with charged shots. They do that sometimes. Go back and grab more needles and a fresh plasma pistol when you're running low. Repeat until you've taken out nearly all of the Covenant. That last bad guy or two can be annoying to finish off, so don't worry about it. Find a decent plasma pistol and grab your shotgun. Run up one last time and send off a few charged plasma shots and a grenade or two. Whoever is left will probably run for cover so follow up with your shotgun at close range, blasting elites and bonking jackals.

Now you can relax. No more tough battles for a while. Don't scavenge around here yet. I've got a plan. Toss your shotgun in a memorable spot and grab a plasma rifle. Keep your old plasma pistol as well. Walk up the ramp and into the tower. At the end of the path are a health pack, a pistol, and a sniper rifle. Toss both your weapons and grab these goodies. Remember where this ammo stash is. You'll be flying back up here later. Head down to the site of the last battle. You should have a nice array of weapons by now. The sniper rifle doesn't have much ammo, so you'll want to save that for later. The pistol and shotgun are your two staples. Always keep these around. And you have a pile of plasma pistols and needlers that are good to use up on enemies at a distance.

Since that's what you're facing next, grab a needler but keep your pistol. Move off to the right (assuming you're facing out towards the canyon) and peek over the edge. You'll see several

51 Covenant patrolling down below. Burn through all the nearby needles to soften them up then pick up a plasma pistol and toss the needler. Peek over the edge just far enough to fire off a charged plasma shot at an enemy then quickly switch to your pistol and zoom in. If the shot hits, follow up with the pistol. Keep doing this until either all the guys below you are dead or you run out of needles and plasma pistols. Grab your pistol and shotgun and locate your sniper rifle. Continually switch it out with one of your weapons to toss it down to the level below. Follow it down and put your shotgun in the face of anybody who was giving you trouble before.

Now you have a large amount of space to work with and can look down on the enemies below you. Needlers are once again very useful since you can rain needles on enemies who can't find any cover. And if the Covenant aren't paying attention you can often drop plasma grenades on them as well. Look off the left side first. There will be a couple of elites and a jackal here. You definitely want to take these guys out with needles and grenades if you can. Head back to the right when you're done and take a look at the Covenant down below. A couple of elites, a jackal, and a grunt. Snipe the grunt and jackal with your pistol or charged plasma pistol shots. Head down the path and get the attention of the elites then run back up top and move around behind them. Peer over the edge and toss a grenade onto them or let loose with a clip of needles.

Go back up and retrieve your shotgun and sniper rifle. If you want to plan ahead, you can toss your sniper rifle down to the walkway below so you don't have to go as far to retrieve it later. Or you can even take it with you, constantly switching it out with another one of your weapons.

You should have already taken out these next guys from above, but if there's anyone left just use the chunks of debris as cover. Sneak up then run out and pump a few shotgun shells into them.

Moving along you'll see two grunts at the other end of the upcoming tunnel. Zoom in and blow their heads off. Move up to where they were standing and take out the jackal nearby with a few shots to his vulnerable spots with your pistol. Toss your shotgun (remember where it is of course) and pick up the needlers dropped by the two grunts. Stay out of the range of the two elites ahead and unload your needler on them. A few clips later they should be toast. Now you should go retrieve your sniper rifle. Pick it up, toss your needler and head back down to the bottom floor of the pyramid. Part way down the last ramp you will get a checkpoint, so take a moment before you trigger it to make sure you're set. Run back to the ammo stash if you're running low on rounds for your pistol or shotgun. And if you want you can move your shotgun to the top of the ramp to make it more accessible later. Once you're ready, move ahead.

After the checkpoint, get your sniper rifle out and zoom in on the Banshee ahead of you. As you move past the piece of debris the next group of Covenant will appear. An elite will come running out from behind the Banshee, so put a couple of sniper rounds through him when you see him. Switch back to your pistol and look for grunts and jackals to snipe at. The Wraith will start lobbing mortars soon, so move into the shelter of the tunnel once things get too hot. From the tunnel you can peek out both sides and snipe most of the Covenant in the area. Use your pistol to clear out the grunts and jackals, and then switch to your sniper rifle for the elites. Don't worry too much about taking out the golden elite commander unless of course you can stick a grenade to him. Once you've emptied your sniper rifle and gone through a few pistol clips, there should only be a few elites left. Now it's time to put the smack down on that Wraith. You've probably noticed that rocket launcher by now. Go toss your rifle and pick it up along with an extra clip of rockets to top it off. Be careful not to grab the health pack unless you really need it. Put those rockets to good use. Move through the tunnel and target the Wraith. Wait until it stops moving then fire. Keep watching for a moment to confirm you actually hit it then duck back into the tunnel away from the mortar shells. Three rockets will finish it off, but I recommend only hitting it twice. Instead of that last rocket, empty a couple of clips of pistol ammo into the tank. You will be filling up on pistol ammo soon, so this saves

52 you a rocket. Once the Wraith is scrap you can go back and grab the extra clip of rockets. If you didn't miss, you should now have a full rocket launcher. Retrieve your shotgun and switch it out for your rocket launcher.

Now we have to deal with the last few elites. Make sure there are only elites left. Snipe any remaining jackals or grunts. The elites have all probably migrated to the side of the pyramid where the Wraith was and where you probably are now. If not, harass them until they're all on that side. Now quickly run into the tunnel and drop down on the far side. Run up to the left wall and turn right so you're facing the back of the canyon. Run along the wall and hope the elites don't see you. Once you've run all the way to the ice flow, turn around and head to the other side of the pyramid. Run up behind the Banshee, hop in, and fly away from those elites as fast as your anti-grav pods will carry you. Hover over them at a safe height and pound them into the dirt with your fuel rod gun.

Once you've bombed them all into submission, head back up to the top of the pyramid to grab more pistol and shotgun ammo. You should be carrying both of these weapons. Fly up to the top and fill up on goodies.

Now you can head towards the navpoint. Fly in from above. As you approach you'll see the door open for an elite and two grunts. Aim for the elite and nail him with the fuel rod gun. Finish him off with the plasma guns, but be careful. You want his plasma rifle, so notice where it lands. If the grunts haven't retreated, take them out with the plasma guns as well. Land and switch out your pistol for that plasma rifle. If you can't find it, grab one or both of the needlers. Follow the corridor along until you come to the pulse generator. Hop into the middle of the beam to destroy it then run immediately to the back of the room. That's right, the side away from the door. A whole mess of Sentinels will move into the room. Peek in and use your plasma rifle or needler on them. Half a clip of needles per Sentinel is plenty. Duck back to recharge often. These guys can wear down your shields fast. Your Covenant weapon should take them out pretty easily. If you run out of ammo, just move around the outside of the room and leave.

Breaking Stuff to Look Tough

Head back out to your Banshee. As you step out onto the platform look to your right. Hey, it's another Banshee. How did that one get up here? Take it since it is undamaged and fly down to the land bridge. You have two groups of Covenant to worry about here, one from each side of the bridge. And they have a new toy. Most of these grunts are carrying fuel rod guns. Take these guys out with some fuel rods of your own. Hover and bomb as usual until there are just a couple of guys left. You want to have at least one of their plasma weapons land on the bridge when they die, so don't blow them away with fuel rods. Try running into them or hosing them down with plasma. If you take a lot of damage, fly back up and grab your old Banshee. It probably hasn't taken much of a beating. Once you've cleared off the bridge, land on it and switch out one of your weapons for any old Covenant weapon lying around. This is why you needed to make sure one landed here. Now fly back down to where you left your rocket launcher and pick it up, tossing your Covenant weapon by the wayside. Fly back up to the land bridge and get out. Now you have a full pistol, full shotgun, and possibly a full rocket launcher all here on the bridge with you. Sweet. If you're feeling confident, don't bother moving the rocket launcher along with you. If you can't stand the thought of leaving a rocket launcher behind, move it into the tunnels with you. You know the routine. Keep switching it out with another weapon as you walk forward.

Move ahead through the corridor and you'll get a checkpoint. Keep going into the room ahead and try to bonk the lone grunt before he gets into the interior of the room. There are a lot of Covenant in here with you, and this battle can be a real pain. Fortunately you have a rocket launcher! Unload on these guys. After launching a rocket, switch to your other weapon (doesn't matter whether it's the shotgun or pistol) to finish off anyone damaged by the explosion. By the time your out of rockets there should be far fewer Covenant in the area. The

53 remaining enemies can be handled as usual. Bust out all the windows and use them to sneak around. Snipe grunts and jackals with your pistol. Use charged shots on annoying jackals or elites. Stick grenades to any elites who can't see you. Once there are only elites left, fill them full of needles or move in close and blast them with your shotgun.

Once the room is clear, find a good plasma pistol, keep your human pistol, and drop your shotgun in a safe spot. The ramp ahead leads down to an area with three jackals. Use charged shots to take them out. One will probably retreat to the next room. Let him go for now.

Head back to the site of the previous battle and fill up a needler, dropping your plasma pistol. You can move your shotgun along with you as well since we'll be needing it eventually. Move down the ramp and past the area where you just axed a couple of jackals. The next group of Covenant will appear at the end of this corridor, but they won't show up until you've moved part of the way down. If one of those jackals retreated here, take him out now with your pistol. Now move forward until the Covenant show up. Back up and fill the hall with needles. Fire off a clip on one side of the columns, move over, reload, and then fire off a clip on the other side. This should take care of most of the grunts and possibly the elites. Once you've emptied the needler, go back and switch it out for your shotgun. Head back to the battle and snipe any leftover grunts with your pistol. The elites can be taken out a number of ways. You can rush them with your shotgun or you can peer around the columns and stick grenades to them. Either way works. Once they're dead, you can move into the next room where you will get a checkpoint.

Stay up against the right wall and move to the base of the ramp into the next room. Stay out of sight while the battle rages on ahead. Once it dies down, move up to the top of the ramp, but not all the way into the room yet. Walk in just a step and look to your left. Over the little wall, you should see a couple of elites that survived the battle. They will notice you and start shooting. Don't retreat. That little wall that runs around the room will protect you. They aim for your body, not your head. While they're firing, take careful aim and stick a plasma grenade to one of them. If that doesn't take them all out, throw another grenade or just rush in with your shotgun to finish the job.

Several jackals and an elite commander will be coming around the corner soon, so back up. Stay at the top of the ramp until you see them. Toss a couple of frag grenades towards the jackals and retreat down the ramp. From down here, you can take out the rest of these guys. Snipe the jackals with your pistol, and if the elite commander comes down after you, stand your ground and blast him with your shotgun a few times at point blank range. Some of the jackals may come down after you as well, but as long as you're on the right side of the doorway, they'll have to expose their unshielded side to you as they walk, which makes them fodder for your shotgun. If the commander hangs back, wait until the jackals are all toast, then rush him with the shotgun or stick a grenade to him just like the previous elites.

Ok, now that those guys are taken care of, look to your right. There's a shotgun full of ammo, several frag grenades and two health packs. Go fill up and look through the slits into the other side of the room. You don't really want to waste pistol ammo on something this easy, so grab a plasma rifle or something. Peek through and hose down anybody you can see. Be careful of the window. You should probably stay crouched. Just keep firing until all the grunts and jackals are dead. Go back and grab another plasma weapon if you need to. Be patient and eventually killing one of the last grunts will trigger a group of Flood to rush in behind the Covenant. Once this happens, grab your pistol back and get your shotgun ready. These guys should take out the rest of the Covenant for you and should be easy for you to kill. Just move through the room and take them all down with your shotgun. There will also be some carriers towards the back, so don't let them sneak up on you. Search carefully and you'll find some valuable pistol ammo amongst the bodies. Be sure to grab it. And head back to grab a health pack and more shotgun ammo if you need to.

54 Moving along you'll come to another battle between Flood and Covenant, this time out on the bridge. Run out the door, take a right around the support, walk up behind a jackal and blast him with your shotgun. Blast another if you can. Retreat, get your pistol out and snipe the rest of the jackals. After all the nearby Covenant are either dead or retreating, follow them down the bridge. Snipe any Flood that are lingering around on the other bridge, but not if they're also firing on Covenant. At some point the elite commander will come to kill you. Back up and blast him a few times with the shotgun. He should go down pretty easily. Peek around one of the walls in the middle of the bridge and toss a plasma grenade onto an elite. There should be several running around ahead. Keep sticking grenades to them until they retreat. Move ahead to their previous position and keep an eye out on the other bridge. Several Flood will jump over soon. Back up when you see them and hope they all go after the Covenant. Shotgun any who come after you. If there are any jackals left, zoom in and snipe them before proceeding. While the elites are still recovering from the Flood assault, rush in and spread buckshot liberally around the area. If the Covenant are all dead, so much the better. The rest of the bridge should be cake. Just keep your shotgun at the ready and look out for Flood jumping over from the other bridge.

The next room contains a huge amount of Flood, but is relatively easy. Run in and head straight into the interior of the room. Fire off a few shotgun shells into the Flood at the other end of the room then retreat. When you reach the door you just came out of, turn around and toss a grenade at the oncoming wave of bad guys then keep on retreating into the hallway. Back up so the Flood have to come around a corner to get to you. As they come around blast each one with your shotgun. Toss grenades as necessary and keep backing up if you get overwhelmed. There will inevitably be some stragglers, so move back up and use the same tactics until they've all been taken care of. There are still three groups of Flood to deal with in this room. One on the left, one in the middle, and one on the right. Let's take the one in the middle first, since they sometimes will interfere with your other fights. Move into the interior of the room and look up the ramp. These guys are armed with shotguns and pistols, so be careful. Snipe with your pistol or move up the ramp and use your shotgun. Grab all the ammo they dropped. Ok, now head back the way you came to the exterior of the room. Assuming you're facing the interior, we're now headed left. This group is at the far end of the room, almost at the door. Toss a plasma grenade right into the middle of them. They aren't that bright, so they should just stare at it until it goes off. Any survivors will probably come after you, so shotgun them. Now it's back around the way you came only this time we're headed right. Walk up and just blow these next Flood away. They aren't that well armed. Standing in the doorway out of this area are two elites. They will have a hell of a fight on their hands soon. If it hasn't started already, move towards the doorway until it does. It should be a pretty fair fight until a Flood with a rocket launcher shows up at the far end of the corridor. Peek around far enough to watch the battle and snipe this guy as soon as possible. If you see him fire a rocket, retreat. Peek back around and make sure this guy goes down. Take out any survivors as usual. If you're a big fan of the rocket launcher, you can pick this one up for now, but it's not very useful. I usually just leave it.

Cruising along you'll come into another room with a smattering of Flood. Show them the business end of your 8-gauge then move towards the interior of the room. Hiding in the first vent on the right is an infected human, so snipe him before he makes a nuisance of himself. There is also a Flood on the second ledge on the left. He moves between the interior and exterior of the room, so you may have to wait for him. Take him out with your pistol when he shows up. Move towards the center of the room and keep your shotgun trained on the second vent on the right. You will trigger an explosion. A few Flood will come out of the vent and a ton of infection forms will drop down. Quickly blast the combat forms then retreat before you're overcome by the little guys. Keep retreating and managing the little guys so they don't get through your shield. Once they're all popped, move back into the center of the room, blasting anybody on the way. Once you're in the middle, the rest of the infection forms will suicide on you. There are a few Flood left in the exterior of the room near the exit. Most of them have pistols, so you can use up your pistol ammo on them. Once you've sniped all of them, move in to pick up their ammo. You can also grab the health pack lying by the door.

55 There are a great many infection Flood waiting in the hallway ahead, so take them all out before moving on.

The next battle takes you back out onto the double bridge for the last time. There are two Banshees flying around in the air and a bunch of Flood on the bridge with you. Wait around in the hallway for a bit and the Banshees will take out most of the Flood for you. This is a good time to clip your toenails or make a sandwich. Once you're tired of waiting, run out and get the attention of the nearby Flood. Duck back into the hallway you came from and shotgun each of them as they come after you. That should clear out a bit of space on the bridge. Enough for you to take out the Banshees. Stay near cover and gun them down with your pistol. These guys will often fly in close, so blast them with your shotgun if you get a chance. After several dozen pistol rounds, they should be grounded for good. Move out onto the bridge now and switch to your shotgun. Several Flood will appear, but it's nothing you can't handle. Zoom in with your pistol and look down the length of the bridge. Snipe any Flood that wander into your crosshairs. A few of these guys have rocket launchers, so you want to take them out from as far away as possible. About three quarters of the way along the bridge, a big group of infection Flood will appear in front of you. Ditch one of your weapons, pick up anything handy and blast these guys. If you can't find another weapon to use on these guys, just run around and keep recharging like you usually do. Grab your old weapon once you're done. The rest of the bridge should be pretty much clear. Whatever the Banshees missed, you probably sniped already. There are probably several rocket launchers lying around, but unfortunately these are just as useless as the last one. Just leave them.

The next room has a pretty pathetic group of Flood for you to battle. No matter what you do the first group of infection forms won't budge, so have some fun with them. Step into the middle of the room to trigger the Flood. Just a few combat forms will come out to play, along with some carriers. Take everybody out and deal with the infection forms. Move through the room and around to the exit. There are a few combat forms blocking the way. Toss a grenade, shotgun, pistol. Take your pick.

Head down the elevator and move through the door as soon as you reach the bottom. You don't want to get caught in the elevator shaft with all those infection forms. This next room has an equally unchallenging group of Flood. I guess it's nice to get a break after those previous battles. At the end of the hall, two infected marines will drop down in front of you. You know what to do. The rest of this room consists of several more infected marines that have found their way into some pretty peculiar places. Be sure to check all around you as you move through the room. Not much else to see here. Move along.

Finally, you get some space to move around. Run out the door and head for the Ghost. On your way try to take out the elite and grunt with repeated shotgun blasts. Don't worry about them too much though. Hop in the Ghost and head to the right. There's another Ghost back here to take care of first. Keep circling him and blasting him with your plasma cannons. As long as you keep moving, neither he nor the Banshee flying overhead will do much damage. Once the other Ghost is toast, head down into the ditch underneath the big pipe thingies. There's another Ghost down here, two health packs, a rocket launcher, a clip of rockets to top it off, some shotgun ammo, and pistol ammo. Woo ha! Grab a health pack if you're hurting, but don't grab anything else yet. You should still have plenty of pistol ammo. Use it on that Banshee. You may have to leave the safety of the ditch to get a good shot, but be ready to run for cover if the Banshee gets a good angle on you. Gun it down then run back to the tunnel and switch out your shotgun for that rocket launcher. Grab the extra rockets, but not the pistol ammo. Hop in your old Ghost and fly up out of the ditch towards the Covenant. You're probably supposed to stop up here and take these Covenant out from the top of the ramp. I have a different plan. Fly straight through the middle of them. Head through the hail of plasma fire, hope the Wraith doesn't get off a lucky shot, and fly off the cliff into the area below and behind them. You could just leave now and forget these guys, but it's easy as pie to take them out from here. Head up the switchback and peer over the edge at the Wraith. He can't hit you from there. He'll just keep pounding the dirt in front of you. And the other Covenant are far enough away to not be much of a problem. Shoulder your rocket launcher

56 and send four rockets to end this Wraith's miserable existence. Why does this one take four and the last one took three? Who knows. Take out any occupied Shades, the elite (if you didn't get him before), and jackals with more rockets and snipe the remaining jackals and grunts with your pistol. All too easy. Head back to the ammo stash in the ditch and fill up on everything. Toss the rocket launcher and grab your shotgun. You should be full of ammo, health, and probably grenades when you leave here. Grab the Ghost with the least damage and head out.

Cruise down the switchback and into the tunnel. Squeeze your Ghost out the other side and move ahead. Two jackals are wandering around nearby, so stop for a moment to hose them down with your plasma cannons. Ahead, you will come to an overturned warthog and another ammo stash. Unfortunately it's not very useful since you should be full already. Fly up the winding path in your Ghost. When you reach the top move ahead a bit and blast the four grunts up here. Once they've all been sent to an early grave, you have a couple of choices. You can take on the upcoming battle in either your Ghost or that warthog. And you can follow two different strategies. The first is really risky and will get you killed several times, but will probably save you time in the long run. The other is a little slower and more methodical. Read ahead and pick whichever one sounds like the most fun.

Ok, first the balls-out strategy. Take your vehicle of choice and drive/fly in towards the left of the tower and head straight for one of the Banshees. Take a moment to either run over or gun down the three elites, then hop out, get in a Banshee, and fly the hell out of there. Once you're in the air, you'll end up dogfighting up to four other Banshees. Enjoy the Banshee on Banshee action. This is the only dogfighting in the game other than a brief bit on Assault on the Control Room. They're fairly easy to take down. You just have to figure out where they are. Once you have control of the skies, you can hover and bomb anyone down below. Obviously there's the Wraith to deal with along with any elites you didn't kill when you picked up your ride. There is also a gaggle of grunts with a Shade on a hill. And lastly there's a pair of hunters on the other side of the pillar. Once you're done go back down, land near where the grunts were, and skip the next paragraph.

If you want to take the more methodical approach, drive your vehicle of choice into the next area. Head in on the right side of the pillar, towards the hunters. Running them over can be hard in either vehicle for different reasons, so I usually get out and take them out at close range with a few pistol shots. You know the routine. Walk up and when they charge run backwards and shoot them in the gut, or sidestep and shoot them in the back. There are two Banshees flying around overhead and one of them has probably noticed you by now. If you're in the Ghost, you're guns won't aim that high. You'll have to stay pretty far away and angle up while dodging most of their shots. Or you can get out in a safe spot and take them down with your pistol. Pistol ammo is about to get scarce, so if you do gun them down, I highly suggest heading back to the previous ammo stash where the warthog was to fill up. If you're in the warthog, drive back out onto the ice near where you came into this area. Get out and hop in the gunner's seat. For some reason, these guys don't seem very accurate with their fuel rod guns, so you're actually fairly safe in your warthog. Plus you get these great shots of Banshees exploding in midair and sliding on the ice into your hog, which is cool. Take out both Banshees then head back around to the right of the pillar. Keep moving around until you can see the Wraith ahead. If you're in the Ghost, you'll probably need to move a little closer. Keep pouring on the plasma while dodging the mortar shells and eventually you'll bring the Wraith down. If you're in the hog, get as far away from the Wraith as possible while still being able to see it. Get in the gunner's seat and start burning through the rounds. At this range, the Wraith will have a bit of trouble hitting you, but if you see a mortar that looks like it's going to hit, hop out of the warthog and run away. Get back in your warthog after it hits, drive to another spot, then get out and continue with the chaingun until he blows. Once you're done with the Wraith, keep moving around the pillar and look for a group of grunts on the hill ahead. They have a Shade at the top too. Use either your plasma cannons or chaingun to take them all out long range. Concentrate your fire on the Shade and use short bursts to keep your accuracy up. Once all the grunts are dead, move up to their position and get out. They left a bunch of needlers on the ground for you, so toss one of your weapons for a moment and pick one up.

57 There are three elites down below, so peer over the edge and go crazy with the needles. They don't have much cover since you're basically above them, so they don't stand a chance. Once they're taken care of, toss the needler and get your old weapon back.

Ok, regardless of which strategy you used, you're probably in need of a health pack. There's one inside the pillar. There should be an unlocked door near the hill the Shade was on. Go in and get healthy. Head back out and pick up your well-deserved Banshee. If you've already been flying around, be sure to pick the undamaged one.

Fly way high up in the air away from the pillar. Another couple of Banshees will come out to play if you haven't fought them yet. Stay away from the troops on the top of the pillar and hose these guys down with your plasma cannons. Fly back up high over the top of the pillar. There are several grunts and an elite commander down there. Some of the grunts have fuel rod guns and some are in Shades, so be sure to stay near the maximum range of your fuel rod gun. Bomb the grunts into oblivion then drop down a little closer to take out the elite commander. Now you can head back up and bomb the guys at your next navpoint. There is a jackal, an elite, and a grunt with a fuel rod gun. Land after you blow them all away and head into the hall.

Run into the room ahead. There is a whole mess of Flood battling only one or two Sentinels in here, so the battle will be over fast. Peek into the interior of the room and toss a grenade or two towards the bulk of them. Be careful. Some of these guys have rocket launchers. Retreat into the hall and shotgun anybody who follows you. Usually you'll get stuck with a checkpoint right about now. This is a bit annoying since you haven't cleared out the room yet, but that's ok. At least you get one. Go back in and finish clearing out the room Grab a rocket launcher and gather up the spare rockets. Also be sure to knock out any windows that are still intact. Continually switch out your rocket launcher for either your pistol or shotgun to move it to one of the vents. Look up at the vent and keep switching out your weapons until you can get one of them to land up inside the vent. Back up and jump up into the vent. Now switch weapons some more to move your rocket launcher towards the back of the tunnel. Thanks to SpudNYC for suggesting tossing a rocket launcher up here. Good idea! Hop back down out of the tunnel. Practice jumping back into it a few times. It's a tough jump. It may help to tap crouch at the height of your jump. It gives you an extra bit of air. Some people call this double-jumping or crouch-jumping.

Anyway, once you're ready get your shotgun out and jump into the pulse generator. Immediately run up to the vent with the rocket launcher and blast any Flood who have spawned there. Jump up into the tunnel and shotgun anybody who follows you up here. Switch out your pistol for the rocket launcher. Peek out of the tunnel and take a look around. You can take out nearly all of the Flood from here. Look out towards one of the exits to the exterior of the room. Most of the Flood will be out there. Fire off a few shotgun shells towards the exit to get their attention. A big pile of Flood will usually come to investigate. Watch for them on your motion tracker. Fire off a rocket into the group and retreat into the tunnel. Peek out and finish off anybody in the interior of the room then do it all over again. Shotgun to get their attention then blast them with a rocket You can also use this same trick on any nearby windows you can see through, though it's a little more likely to get you blown up. Grenades work well when using the windows since you can toss them and retreat before the Flood show up. Once you've run out of rockets, snipe the rest with your pistol or use grenades. When you're left with just a few blips on your motion tracker, you can hop down and take the rest out with your shotgun as usual. Just pray that none of the one's left have rocket launchers. Once you're through here, head back out and pick up the shiny new Banshee the level designer left for you on the right.

The Tunnels Below

Fly down into the tunnel. Stay near the ceiling at the tunnel entrance. This a nice battle to watch, but you don't want to get too close. The Shade might start firing on you, so be ready to

58 drop to the ground if necessary. You could just nuke it with a fuel rod, but the Covenant need the firepower. You want them to win this battle. The Flood have rocket launchers and those are bad. Wait around for a long time until the fighting stops. If the Covenant win, they tend to stay put and let you bomb them into oblivion. If the Flood win, they tend to run up and shoot you with a rocket. So if you see a Flood coming towards you, try to fly back out of the tunnel with some evasive maneuvers. Turn around and bomb him once you have some breathing room.

Once you've taken out the winner from the previous battle, fly down and look for a rocket launcher. Switch out your shotgun for it. If you can't find one, well, that's ok. Run down towards the bottom of the tunnel and look for a couple of Flood standing on a rock where the floor turns from dirt to metal. Launch a rocket at them or just snipe them with your pistol. One of these guys should definitely have a rocket launcher, so grab it now. Keep moving ahead past the Ghost and hug the left wall. Zoom in with your rocket launcher and look around the corner to the right. Inch forward until you see an arm or leg of a Flood around the corner. Launch a rocket at him then back up. Launch another rocket towards the corner to blow up any survivors. Get your pistol out and snipe anybody that survives the rocket blasts. Head up and get in the Ghost. Skim over to where you left your shotgun and switch it out with your rocket launcher.

Cruise on down the tunnel until you come to the locked door. Hop out, hit the switch, hop back in. Wait around for any Flood to stick their head through the door then blow it off. Once you're pretty sure they're all dead, get out of the Ghost and walk through the broken door. Shotgun anybody hiding behind the door then move off onto the bridge to the right.

Keep moving until a mass of infection forms flow out onto the bridge in front of you. Keep your shotgun pointed at them and retreat. Several unarmed combat forms will be coming in behind them. Melee the little guys until the combat forms get close then waste everybody with your shotgun. Keep backing up all the way to the broken door if necessary. Move back up after you're done with them. Several more combat forms will spawn at the end of the bridge. When they do, fire off a few shotgun shells towards them while you retreat. A couple of these guys have rocket launchers, so sidestep back and forth a bit as you run back. Once you're far enough away, switch to sniping these guys with your pistol. If one starts to charge you, switch to your shotgun and blast him when he gets close. You could just keep on him with your pistol, but switching to your shotgun will save you a few rounds. Take everyone down then move cautiously ahead. Sometimes these guys like to hide around corners, so keep your shotgun up and check all around. There are two health packs here and we're about to leave, so grab one now even if you're just scratched. Move to the big door and hit the switch to open it. Head through and follow the big tunnel.

Final Run

Head up the ramp into the open. There is a small group of Flood waiting around on the right. Toss a frag grenade right into the middle of them then rush in and finish off the rest with your shotgun. Look back towards the battle and locate the Banshee. Sometimes he comes straight for you, so duck under the trees ahead for cover. Occasionally I've had an elite commander come gunning for me as well right about now. If you see him, keep a tree between the two of you until the last minute, then run out and blast him repeatedly with your shotgun. Now back to the Banshee. Stay near the trees for cover and shoot him down with your pistol. Be ready to switch weapons and blast him with a shotgun shell if he flies too close. Once he is grounded, move forward and peek over the snow covered hills towards the battle raging ahead. You want the Flood to win this one, so snipe anybody sitting in a Shade. Once those are unmanned, keep sniping at anything that looks like a good target. If there are a lot of Flood left, switch to sniping them. You want them to win, but by as small a margin as possible. Once the battle has been decided and only one group stands against you, you'll have to finish off the survivors. If they are Flood, they'll come after you in a big mob. Snipe with your pistol at long range aiming for any Flood with rocket launchers, then switch to your shotgun when

59 they get close enough. Keep backing up and blasting them until they all go down for good. If they are Covenant, they won't come to you. You'll have to go to them. Snipe any grunts and jackals still wandering around first of all. There should only be a few elites left. If there are any needlers handy, use them up. Same goes for rocket launchers. Once you've run out of options, try to sneak around behind or beside them. Use whatever cover you can. Energy shields work well. When they turn their back or get close, rush out and keep pumping shotgun shells into them until you're the only thing left standing. Get in one of the Ghosts and cruise along to the next area.

Again you will be on the fringes of a battle between the Covenant and the Flood. Move out into the open for a moment to make sure they start fighting each other then retreat back into the dark canyon you came through. Let them fight it out and gun down anyone foolish enough to come after you. Once the battle is over, swing back out into the open and use your plasma cannons to hose down anyone left alive. There are four Flood with rocket launchers waiting around on the other side of the clearing. Don't worry about them until you've taken everyone else out. Then you can hop out and snipe these guys down with your pistol. Watch for rockets. If they fire one at you, sidestep out of the way. Once they go down, look to your left. There's a big stash here. Ammo of all kinds and a health pack. Be sure to pick that up, even if you don't need it very much. You'll definitely want to grab a rocket launcher and fill it up. As your other weapon, I'd keep the pistol. Get back into your Ghost and head to the site of the previous battle. Your Ghost is bound to have taken a couple of hits, so pick up the undamaged one here then cruise ahead to the next battle. You'll notice there is a ledge blocking your progress. Aim yourself towards the left end of the ledge, were it meets the wall. Fly towards it and press A to lift your nose up. With a bit of work, you can get your Ghost up on top. You should get a checkpoint here as well.

Ok, the last real battle of the level. This can be amazingly long and difficult (and fun) if you try to take everyone on the traditional way. As you near the battlefield, Flood will come running from either side, but they're going to be annihilated. They stand no chance of taking out these Covenant for you. Hanging back and sniping will work eventually to take them out, but I have a much quicker way. Fly straight in through the middle of the erupting chaos. In between the two Wraiths are two Banshees parked at the back of the battle field. Behind them are two boulders sticking out of the ground. We're headed around to the left side of those boulders. Feel free to shoot at anything that you want on the way, but don't dawdle too long, or you'll end up dead. Cruise around behind the rocks and get out of your Ghost. Now if you wanted to you could jump up in between the rocks, run up behind a Banshee and fly the hell out of here. Your Banshee would get shot up pretty bad, but you'd probably make it. These guys are just way too fun to kill though, so turn back towards the battle and head to your right. Look around the edge of the rock. There should be a Wraith there. He's pretty easy prey for your rocket launcher, but can definitely hit you if you stay near the edge too long. Peek out a few times and keep launching rockets until he's been destroyed. Now head back to the left side of the rocks. Peek out this side and you should see another Wraith farther away. If he's still paying attention to the Flood you can get a free shot off. Otherwise he'll just dodge the rockets. Feel free to spend some time back here launching rockets at things and sniping stuff. Watch out for several stealth elites that will appear eventually. You probably want to be gone before they show up. When you're ready, hop up between the rocks and get in a Banshee. Fly up out of firing range then turn around and look over the battlefield. There's a lot of little guys moving around down there, so start bombing. Take out the Wraith first, since it's the only thing that can hit you up here. Once it's gone, you can drop a bit lower. Continue bombing and eventually a new wave of Covenant will spawn behind the rocks where you were hiding before. This wave includes two hunters. You probably want to save them for last since they take so many hits. Keep bombing away with your fuel rod gun until you've finally taken out the last of the Covenant. Whew. Think you're done? Well, you're not. There are still up to five stealth elites wandering around the battlefield. Drop down almost to ground level. Two of them tend to wander around near the other Covenant. Don't worry about them shooting up your Banshee until you're in the red. Just drop down and be a sitting duck. When they fire, concentrate on one at a time and spray the area down with plasma. Once your Banshee is on its last leg, fly back and grab your Ghost. Fly your Ghost back out and track down the other

60 stealth elites. As you're heading away from the battlefield, you should see a hill in the middle of the canyon. They tend to hang out on the left side of this hill, near the frozen pond. Once your Ghost is about to blow, head back and grab the final Banshee. Use it to clean up the remaining stealth elites and you will finally be done with this battle.

Fly back to the navpoint. When you get close, gain some altitude and get ready to hover over your enemies as usual. There are several Sentinels guarding the entrance to the last pulse generator. They're pretty small targets, but be patient and keep pouring on the plasma until you've taken out at least a few of them. Then you can drop down lower and look for survivors. Once you've turned then all to scrap, land on the platform. You'll find a health pack up here along with just about every kind of ammo under the sun. This is the end of the level, so grab the health pack. And for your weapons, let's choose a plasma rifle and a rocket launcher. Head on down the tunnel and peek into the next room. There are several Sentinels in here. Fire off a bit of plasma to get their attention. Stay in the doorway and they should come out into the exterior of the room to fight. These guys are tougher than the other Sentinels you've faced. They have shields. They're still pretty easy to take out however. Use your rockets on them when you feel like making explosions and gun them down with the plasma rifle to finish them off. Duck back to recharge as necessary. Once the coast is clear, head into the center of the room and walk into the pulse generator. Now just sit back and enjoy the cutscene. After that level, you have definitely earned it.

9. Keyes

Well, you're off to save Keyes' butt again. For a military genius this guy sure gets captured a lot. And once again, you'll be boarding the Truth and Reconciliation, so a lot of the terrain will be familiar from that level. It's kind of fun to see it all torn up. And just when you think you've seen all that Halo has to offer, the Covenant pull out their Special Forces units, complete with fancy new black uniforms. (Sharp-eyed players might have caught sight of Spec-Op grunts in a specific area of Two Betrayals... but here you get to fight 'em, up close and personal.)

Under New Management

Run ahead and laugh at the grunt being chased by an armless Flood. Gun them down then go back the way they came and you'll find some goodies. Grab the grenades, but don't get the active camouflage yet. It'll come in handy later. Move on down the path and you'll come across several grunts hanging out in the corridor. Move into the hall towards them then retreat. This will trigger a small group of Flood that will engage them, saving you the trouble. After the Flood have made a mess of them, come around the corner and finish everybody off with your assault rifle. Look ahead into the next hall and make sure there aren't any carriers lurking around. One of those Flood dropped a shotgun, so find it and make it yours, dropping your plasma pistol. Now you can head back and grab that active camouflage. Once you have it, run ahead, past the previous battle. Open the door and jump in the big hole. Whee!

You have just landed in the middle of a war zone. Fortunately, you're invisible. Creep out of the pool of coolant and take a look around. While you're invisible, feel free to wander around and toss grenades at any groups of Flood. Be careful of stray shots hitting you. This will make you momentarily visible, and then everyone will start shooting you. Eventually the Flood will overwhelm the Covenant and start looking for more stuff to kill. Right about then your invisibility should be wearing off. Run back into the pool of coolant you dropped into. Stay submerged and look out at the Flood on the shore. For some reason, this seems to confuse the Flood. They won't shoot at you from on shore and they only tend to come in after you in small groups. You can just blow these guys away with your shotgun when they get in the coolant with you. Once they stop coming, pop your head up and fire off a shell or two to get their attention. Duck back into the pool when things get too hot and shotgun anybody who comes in after you. After you've dealt with all the Flood you can see, hop out of the pool and

61 scavenge through this area thoroughly. Turn on your flashlight to get a better look. You should find a pistol, which you should drop your assault rifle for. And there should be some more shotgun ammo lying around as well. Once you're set, find the path ahead and move out.

As you move along and on into the next battle or two, small groups of infection Flood will rain down on you from above. Keep an eye on your motion tracker and try not to get caught with your shield down. Anyway, more Covenant and Flood will be battling as you come to the next open area. They will be off to your left. Hang back and let them duke it out. You can spend the time sniping at the Flood on the ledge to the right. Once the battle is over, peek out and snipe at the remaining Flood on the left. There's a big rock leaning against the canyon wall to your left. Hide behind it when the Flood start charging you. Pump a shell into each one as they round the corner. Once they stop coming, move out into the area to scavenge. Stay frosty. Combat Flood will continue to drop down occasionally, and all the infection forms around tend to make the motion tracker all but useless. Once you're satisfied that you've scavenged everything usable and that no more Flood are going to show up, move ahead.

As you approach the narrow path ahead, a whole bunch of combat Flood will come out to greet you. Toss a grenade into the middle of them and shotgun each one as they come out to fight. After you go through what these guys drop, you should be just about full on shotgun ammo. Move along and keep an eye on your motion tracker. As soon as you see a big red blip, back up. Several carriers will drop down and explode. Deal with the infection forms and shotgun any combat forms lingering around. Move cautiously ahead until more blips appear on the tracker. Back up again and snipe any carriers with your pistol. Keep moving cautiously ahead and popping carriers until you get to a larger group of combat forms. By now the carriers will have stopped dropping on top of you, so you can move forward and deal with these guys up close and personal with your shotgun. Just past these guys you will find a health pack and a sniper rifle. The sniper rifle is almost completely useless against Flood, but it's great for watching the upcoming fight, so pick it up if you want.

Move ahead and grab some popcorn. You'll be here a while waiting for this battle to finish. Be careful. Occasionally a hunter will spot you and send a fuel rod your way, so don't get too comfy. You will also want to snipe any Flood hanging out on the land bridge. Use your pistol. The sniper rifle rounds pass right through Flood and do basically no damage. After all the Covenant have been killed, ditch the sniper rifle and dive into the melee. Shotgun anybody who gets in your way as you head under the land bridge. You should see two small pools of coolant off to the left with a health pack in between them. Head to the far side of the farthest pool. Stand your ground here and take out any carriers who hobble towards you. No more bad guys should spawn in the pools now, so move back out towards the middle of the area and finish off anyone still wandering around. Scavenge and head to the next area.

Next you will come to two grunts and an elite in a Shade. You really need to get in that Shade. And preferably before the many waves of Flood come pouring around the corner ahead. There are a couple of ways to get there. My favorite is to toss a plasma grenade behind the Shade. Try to get it as close to the Shade as possible, but on the far side. If you stick it to the Shade itself or the elite then this still might work depending on where it lands. All the Covenant will turn to look at the grenade so you can run up behind them and shotgun the two grunts. If the grenade goes off and blows the Shade towards you then you can hop in and immediately start whaling on the Flood. If it's too far away to affect the Shade, then you'll have to take out the elite with one or two point blank shotgun shells. Be sure to hit him and not the Shade. Then you can get in and start hosing down the Flood. Or you can wait until the first wave of Flood come around the corner and let the Covenant deal with them. They'll take out most of them before biting the bullet and then you can run in, clean up the Flood, and hop in the Shade in the brief lull between waves. Regardless of how you get there, once you're in the Shade, you should spin to face the corner the Flood are coming around and just hold down the trigger. Many, many Flood will come around that corner. Once they stop, try firing a few shots at the far wall of the canyon. That may trigger more to come down or you may have to get out and run around the corner. Once more Flood notice you, hightail it back to the Shade and start whaling on them again. Each time the Flood stop, there's probably more waiting around the

62 corner. Eventually though, you will have exhausted their supply. Move around the corner and up the slope. As you near the top, you'll see a hole in the rock leading to the next area. As you approach, three more Flood will jump through. Blow them away then head back and scavenge before moving on. Remember there is probably a health pack still lying around in the previous area. Go back for it even if you don't really need it. We're about to pass another point of no return. This level seems to have a lot of those.

Drop down through the hole and follow the canyon to the next little skirmish. This one is pretty straightforward. Wait until the Flood have slain all the Covenant. Peek around the corner and get the attention of the Flood by blowing a few away with the pistol then step back and shotgun them as they come around after you. Move up when you're done and make sure all the Flood on the ground are dead before sniping the ones on the ledges with your pistol. Scavenge around and take note of the health pack for when you need it. Move past the battlefield cautiously. A mass of infection forms will appear on your motion tracker. They aren't much of a threat, but if you turn around and run back past the stationary shields and look in the coolant, you'll see what is. There's a whole crapload of carriers there just begging to be popped. Oblige them and clean up all the infection forms in the area. There are many, so you may want to temporarily requisition an assault rifle or something to mow them down. Once they're popped, move ahead.

This next fight is also fairly straightforward. You can't see much of the action from your angle, but a hell of a fight is going on under the gravlift. Eat some more of that popcorn while you wait and take note of the over shield at the base of the hill the Covenant are on. It's on the right. Once all the Covies have been taken care of, move into the open a bit and get the attention of the Flood in the area. Stay near the entrance to the canyon where you've been hiding out and snipe them as they come for you. Fall back around the corner and shotgun them when they start to overwhelm you. Now you can move in and clear out the rest of the area. Once it has been cleansed, move up the ramp to the gravlift. A new wave of Flood will spawn behind you. If you stand your ground, you'll probably be whisked away before they can do much damage. However if you want to see to it that each and every one of them bites the big one then run straight through the gravlift, drop down on the other side, and head to your favorite hiding spot. Take out this wave the same way you did the last. No more stuff should spawn now, so take one last look around for ammo and infection forms then grab the over shield. Hang out under the gravlift to get whisked away to the Truth and Reconciliation.

Upstairs, Downstairs

You might get the jitters when you appear here, but don't worry. There really aren't any Covenant here this time. Just a few infection forms. Head out the door and down the hall. Carrier Flood will drop down in front of and behind you, so be careful. Just run past them or shoot them from a safe distance. If you stick around here, more carriers will continue to trickle down behind you, so don't worry about finishing off all the infection forms. Just keep moving.

Take a look down to the floors below. Eww. Big streaks of Covie blood. And on the far right you'll see two health packs and an over shield. There are one or two Flood up here with you, so move ahead and take them down with your shotgun. They should have more shotgun ammo, so you can fill up. Take a moment to thin out the Flood below. You can snipe with your pistol or if they're right below you, you can use your shotgun. You could just drop down now and make a break for the next area, but don't you need more masochism in your life? Head into the halls and around a corner or two. A whole bunch of Flood are going to drop down from the ceiling here. Stay back around the last corner and shotgun them as they come after you. Retreat all the way back to the room with the bodies if you need to. Keep moving up and then retreating as you take out each wave. There are many, many Flood here, but eventually they will stop coming. The infection forms will continue to drop for some time however, so ignore them and move along.

63 Run up and shotgun any stragglers in the halls ahead until you get to the bottom floor. Look into the room and snipe any carriers ambling around. Move in a bit and you will trigger a new batch of Flood to come out of the big door near the over shield. Snipe a few with the pistol until they get uncomfortably close. Then back up into the hall and drop a grenade for them as they come after you. Shotgun the survivors. Now this place is yours. Move in and head to the far corner. Be careful not to pick up the over shield, but you should grab one of the two health packs now.

The way out is directly across from the way in. Head over to the door and move through with your shotgun at the ready. Just around the corner ahead is a nasty group of Flood. If they don't come after you immediately, you can peek around and blast one to get their attention. Drop a grenade and back up. Hammer them as they come around after you. They tend to come at you in two waves, so if there's a pause in the action, check your motion tracker. Bounce a frag grenade around the corner into the next group as they come out to play. Once the coast is clear, move around the corner. It's a dead end. You'll have to drop down that hole to proceed. Another one of those points of no return. Toss one of your weapons and pick up anything lying around. Crouch down and look through the hole for carriers to shoot. There are a few of them down there and its best not to drop down next to one. Take out the infection forms as well. Once you've killed everything within sight down there, grab your old weapon and head back for the other health pack and over shield. Grab these and drop down.

Finish off anyone left down here and move ahead. A battle will erupt ahead and you'll be stuck on the back end with the carriers. Blast them and pop the little guys. Move ahead but be careful not to provoke the Flood. You can peek around the corner and toss a grenade to help in the killing. And sometimes an elite will turn their back to you here or get close enough to shotgun to death. Once the battle is over, but before they can recover, run around the corner and pump a few shotgun shells into anything still moving. Duck back around the corner before they wear through your shield. Recharge and peer slowly around. Snipe any grunts and stick grenades to any elites. If you catch an elite alone, just run out and shotgun him at close range. After more of them go down, the last ones may retreat down the next hall and merge with another group of Covies down there. Move to the next corner and peer around. Toss a grenade right into the middle of them. When it goes off, run about half way down the hall and duck into the little indentation on the left. Blast anybody who comes up the hall to investigate. Peek out from here and snipe any grunts or toss another grenade. When there's only one elite left, run out and shotgun him. If they retreat out of sight, don't worry about them. They're about to die. Move to the end of hall, where it turns left, to trigger a big group of Flood to spawn behind you. If you were to turn around and head back up the hall they'd be on your right, but you probably shouldn't do that. They'll attack any remaining Covenant through another hall and once they engage, you can use the confusion to get the hell out of here. I hate to advise letting anything live, but there are just too many waves of Flood to deal with. It reminds me too much of The Library, and you've already passed that little test. If you want to stay, you can head back, wrap these guys around a corner, and shotgun them as usual. But be prepared to do that several times to exhaust the supply of Flood. Anyway, once the first group of Flood spawn behind you, take a right and watch out for a second group dropping down from the ceiling. Shotgun your way through them and head down the hall. Turn around and keep shooting as you back your way into the next area. By the time you get to the shuttle bay, they will have stopped coming.

As you enter the shuttle bay, there will be a health pack immediately on your left. You shouldn't need it now, but you probably will later. Don't forget about it. Duck down behind the stationary shield in front of you and take a look around. There are several elites running around on the central platform. Soon a group of Flood will attack them. Help the Flood out a bit by tossing a plasma grenade right into the middle of the elites. Be sure to catch the Shade in the blast if one of the elites has started using it. One well-placed grenade should be enough to put those elites in some serious trouble. Look to your left and you will see an open door that leads down to the bottom level. Occasionally reinforcements will come out of this door to help the elites on the central platform. Run in the door and shotgun any Covenant who rush out towards you. Move down the hall a bit until you come to another battle between Flood and

64 Covenant. Don't engage them yet. You have to finish this battle first. The reason you came down here was to stop those reinforcements from spawning, so you don't have to worry about them anymore. Head back out to the shuttle bay. From here you have plenty of cover to work your way to the central platform. The elites tend to stay out on the platform, but any grunts hanging around tend to stay closer to the walkway you're on. Snipe them as you move towards the platform. Use the stationary shields and columns for cover. Peek out and toss plasma grenades into the middle of the elites. After each goes off, be prepared to run out and blow away any elites who had their shields knocked out but survived the blast. You can also pick up a needler if one is handy and spray them down with needles. After a bit of this, the elites should be in pretty bad shape. When there's only one or two left, you can run out onto the platform and hide behind the two computer box thingies on the right. From there you can peek out and grenade more, wear them down with shotgun blasts, or if you're patient they will often turn their back to you.

Now you have a choice. You can head back into the corridor leading down to the bottom level and clear out all of the nasty things in the hallways. Or you can turn around and continue on your merry way through the second level. I'm sure you hated having to let some Flood live a little while ago, so let's go kill everything.

Head back through the hall you went into before. Wait around until the Flood have all been killed. There will almost always be grunts and a hunter left here, so get your pistol out. Move around the corner and get the attention of the hunter. Get close enough to make him charge then back up. After he swings, plug him in the gut. You're in some pretty tight corridors here, so make sure you have space behind you to retreat. Behind the hunter will be several grunts. Bounce a frag grenade in if you have one to spare. Zoom in, peek around the corner, and put a bullet through each of the survivor's craniums.

Move around the next corner until you see Flood ahead then immediately retreat a bit. That should be sufficient to start the next battle going. Wait a moment then rush around the corner and down to the battle scene. Try not to divert the Flood's attention from the Covenant, but step out behind them and toss a grenade or two at the Covies. Once the grenades go off and the Flood are destroyed, peek around and snipe any grunts left alive. Once they're gone toss plasma grenades on or near any elites. Rush in and finish up with the shotgun if necessary. The last few Covenant will retreat down the hallway. Move up to the next corner and repeat. If you run out of plasma grenades, you can repeatedly peek out, fire off a shotgun shell, then duck back behind cover. You can wear them down this way, though it uses up a lot of ammo.

Move ahead once they're toast and out onto the floor of the shuttle bay. Explore a bit and take out the infection forms along with any bad guys that have fallen. Now at least you don't have to worry about falling down here and your motion tracker will be less cluttered. Move back through the hallways to the second level. Head past the central platform and through the door at the end of the bay on the left.

These next few battles are pretty simple. As you enter the hall, a few grunts up ahead will be attacked by various Flood. Retreat to the shuttle bay and stand to the side of the door. As grunts come running out, put them down with your shotgun. Once Flood start coming out, back up a bit and watch out for carriers. Finish off the Flood with a few more shotgun shells.

Head back into the hall, around the corner, and look about half way up the next hallway on the right. A section of wall has been peeled back and Flood like to get stuck in there. You'll probably have to go around and blast him from the other side. This will trigger the next batch of bad guys. More Flood fighting grunts. Retreat a bit and find some cover until the fighting stops. If the grunts win, snipe them or run in and shove your 8-gauge in their face. If the Flood win, snipe them then show them your 8-gauge when they run up in your face. If you're running low on pistol ammo, drop it here and pick up a plasma weapon. You don't really need it for the next battle.

65 Move ahead, take a right, and glance around the next corner to the left. There's a pile of Flood clogging up the hall and they're not leaving any time soon. Fire off a few pistol rounds or plasma shots to get their attention. Hang back and let the infection forms pop themselves on your shield. Recharge and look back around. These Flood will all stay put until you take a chunk out of them. So move around until you can see just the edge of one and blast him with your pistol or plasma weapon. If he runs towards you, back up and shotgun him. Keep whittling them down, taking on one at a time until you've finished them all off. Now you can run back for your pistol if you dropped it. Grab it and plunder what you can from the fresh bodies. There should be both shotgun and pistol ammo lying around. Move ahead and grab the health pack at the end of the hall if you need it.

A few seconds after you step out onto the third floor, a Covenant dropship will swing in and unload a squad of special forces. They'll drop down to the bottom floor, so you don't have to worry about them now. If you want to have some fun though, you can jump onto the dropship as it's flying in and then drop down onto the floor. You'll take some damage unless you time your crouch right. It can be an interesting challenge to try to take these guys out as they land. One of these grunts looks like they're holding a fuel rod gun, but doesn't actually have a weapon. If you're careful, you can take out everyone else and then watch him dance around threatening you with his nonexistent weapon. Good stuff.

Anyway, you can basically ignore these Covenant and just look to your right. Whip out your pistol and fire off a few shots at one of the Flood. This should get them pretty riled up, so toss a grenade towards them and duck back into the hall. Have a shotgun shell waiting for each one as they round the corner. Move back out and switch back to sniping with your pistol. Another wave will rush you so, so back up and get ready to put them down too. Snipe the last remaining Flood and move forward. When you approach the door, a new batch of Flood will come running through towards you. Toss a grenade just inside the doorway. You can move off to the right a bit and just blast these guys as they come through the door or you can retreat and spread them out a bit if you need to. Scavenge and move on.

The Captain

Keep going until you see a hell of a battle erupting ahead of you. Duck into the hall on the left and wait out the storm. There's a health pack tucked away in here, so grab it when you need to. After the initial firefight dies down, look around the corner. The Covenant tend to hang back at the end of the hall and the Flood tend to hang around in the control room. You will probably have to lure the Covies out of hiding to get the Flood to notice them. Run around, do a little dance, shoot at them, whatever it takes to get the Covenant to come down the hall after you and expose themselves to the Flood. Once there are only one or two Covenant left, you can take them out. Snipe them with your pistol as usual if they're grunts. If the elite is still around, you can stick a grenade to him or slowly wear him down with pistol or shotgun fire. Once the Covenant are out of the picture, it's all up to you. There are tons of Flood left in the control room, but you can whittle them down using the same tried and true techniques you honed on The Library. Peek out and fire off a few pistol rounds at one to get their attention, drop a grenade just around the corner, then back up and nail them with the shotgun as they come around the corner after you. If they start to over whelm you, don't be afraid to keep retreating as you fire. You can end up all the way back in the shuttle bay if you need to. Just keep pounding on them. Aim for carriers when you can. Scavenge and reload whenever there's a break in the action. Eventually they will all go down and your way will be clear. Look to your right as you enter the control room. There's another health pack there for when you need it. Move up the ramp to the center of the room to trigger the cutscene.

After you regain control, turn around and head to the bottom of the ramp. A massive group of Flood is about to come through the doors in front of you, and there's a pretty big group of Covenant waiting outside the door you used to enter. Walk up to that door. As you approach, it will open and two grunts will toss grenades into the control room. Right about now the Flood will be moving in. Make a break for the back of the room. With a little luck, the Flood will start

66 attacking the Covenant and forget all about you. Stay behind one of the two pillars in the back of the room and wait out the battle. If you have any popcorn left, now would be the time to finish it. The Flood will win this battle. After they do, they tend to congregate around the base of the ramp that leads up to Keyes. Stay relatively close to the pillar in case you need to recharge behind it and snipe the surviving Flood with your pistol. Some may move behind a pillar out of sight. Finish off the easy ones then rush around the pillar and plug the last few with your shotgun. Scavenge as you head back to the shuttle bay.

Stop when you see a grunt being munched on by infection Flood. Just around the corner are a couple of combat Flood. Wait until they go out to fight the Covenant before moving into the next hallway. There are two groups of special forces that need to die before you can proceed. Each one consists of an elite and a few grunts with fuel rod guns and needlers. One is straight out the door and the other is around to the right. Keep an eye out for opportunities to stick bad guys with plasma grenades. The elite on the right in particular likes to get close and look out over the shuttle bay. Tag him if you can. This is the end of the level, so don't be afraid to use up your ammo. Take out the group straight ahead first. Peek out and snipe the grunts with your pistol. The elite can be frustrating. Run over to the right side of the doorway for him. Peek out and keep whittling down his shields with you pistol. He'll usually duck behind some boxes but leave just a bit of himself exposed. Aim carefully and keep shooting at whatever sliver you can see of him. If you just can't seem to get him, you can avoid his shots by crouching down and using the box turned on its side in front of you for cover. Now you can stay crouched and snipe at the grunts on the right. Once the grunts are taken care of, start picking away at the elite's shields. When he ducks for cover, rush in and pump a few shotgun shells into him to finish the job.

Now that that's taken care of, you have to get to the floor of the shuttle bay. You could head through the halls and eventually work your way down there. On the way, you would face innumerable Covenant and would probably wear both your thumbs to the bone trying to kill them all. Since there are just too many waves to plow through, I'll have to advocate the short and easy route. Stay on the third story and head all the way to the far right side of the shuttle bay. From here it's an easy drop down to the second level. Crouch when you land of course to minimize damage. From here you can hop down to the bottom floor easily enough. If you're quick, the Banshees won't even have landed yet. When they come down, move out behind the one on the left. The pilot will hop out and you can be waiting right there behind him to bash his skull in. If you feel like it, you can walk over and bonk the other one as he gets out too. Pretty soon all hell will be breaking loose around here, so you'd better get in one of those Banshees and get the heck out of Dodge. Congratulations. You've almost beaten Halo on Legendary. Just one more level to go!

10. The Maw

So you want to see the special ending with the extra scene you can only get by beating the game on Legendary. Well I'm going to tell you how.

...And the Horse You Rode In On

You begin this level with a plasma rifle. This is a good thing. Sentinels evidently have a soft spot for the Covenant because any Covenant weapons will really tear them up. If you wait around in the first area long enough, four sentinels will appear and float in from outside. While they're outside they won't fight back so take as many out as you can. Once they're inside, the rest should fall to your plasma rifle easily. Move into the tunnels and look for a hole in the floor. Infection flood will come pouring out of it to greet you. Wait for the carnage to die down below you before dropping down the ladder.

67 There should be a diagonal support you can peek over to shoot at this group of sentinels. Duck behind it if your shields get low. There are more infection flood in this area, so make sure to pop them all before moving down the hall. Peering around the corner to your right you'll see a group of flood. Fire off a couple of shots at one of them, throw a grenade, and then run backwards back down the hall gunning them down as they round the corner after you. Throw another grenade or two as necessary. There should be a shotgun and a pistol among the wreckage. Pick them up.

As you move towards the next area, a door will be smashed open with a ton of flood behind it. Move to the left of the door so they won't be able to see you when it opens. Bounce a frag grenade into their midst, then follow up with your trusty shotgun. There are a lot of flood here, so another grenade thrown far back into the hall and slightly around the corner would be a good idea. Your shotgun will finish the job nicely.

Next comes the mess hall. Open the door into the next area, but don't go through. Pop the infection flood first. Now you can just barely peek in and zoom in with your pistol to your left. A hunter should come storming into the hall and start taking down flood. Aim for that bright orange back meat, and start shooting. If just one pistol round gets past his armor, he's dead. No need to wait for the perfect shot. He's too busy with flood to notice you. Another hunter will smash through a door to your right, but he'll soon retreat into the mess hall if you don't kill him first. Follow him and shoot him in the back as he battles flood. Grab the health pack (remember there are two here) and a few grenades here if you need to. You have to do all this very quickly so you can take advantage of the confusion in the next area. If you're having trouble, don't worry about killing the hunters. You can get them later.

You may get a feeling of déjà vu as you enter the mess hall for your first difficult battle of the level, and as before, you should run straight through the chaos. Once safely on the other side of the Covenant, you have a few options. You could just move on to the bridge and leave these enemies behind, but where's the fun in that? We're going to go back in and use our pistol to pick off the grunts. Then you can rush the elite and blast him a few times with the shotgun. Be wary. This type of elite throws grenades.

Another group of Covenant will enter the room now, so run back to where you originally entered this area. If any hunters still live, use the multiple doors to the mess hall to get behind them and nail them in the back. Again, peek out and use your pistol to pick off the grunts. These elites can be a problem. They throw grenades too. If you are within reach of a needler, you can use that to get rid of some of them. A generous amount of grenades thrown in their direction will often make them retreat into the hallway they came out of. This leaves you in control of the mess hall, so grab a needler and a bunch of grenades and take them out from relative safety. Once this group is dead, you can scavenge this area thoroughly. Keep you shotgun and pistol, but fill up a needler and keep it handy as well.

There's a health pack on the way to the bridge, but don't grab it until you really need it. There is an elite waiting for you just around the corner, so either stick a grenade to him or fill him full of needles. The grunts around here can be disposed of in any number of ways. Use your imagination. Before you trigger the cutscene, drop your pistol in a safe place, and pick up a Covenant weapon. Any will do.

If you skip the cutscene, you'll still have the display in front of you for cover. It also stays if you die and restart here. Either way, use it for cover and unload your Covenant weapon on the sentinels. Pick up your pistol and head out.

The mess hall is now closed off and a new area full of flood has opened. Blast through the first one you see with your shotgun, then leave a grenade for the others as you retreat. The rest will file out of the door after you. Shotgun and grenade as usual. Move through the pile of assault rifles and approach the far door. Wait for the battle to die down before going through.

68 There should be two hunters and an elite left sitting in a pile of grenades. Throw one of your own to soften them up.

Again, you have a couple of options. You could leave the hunters (and the health pack they're sitting on) behind, or you could kill them. Killing them is actually very easy if you take advantage of a nice little feature in the programming. Move into the next hall and you should trigger a load point. Now go back to the hunters and you should trigger another one on the way. Basically since the hunters were unloaded from memory, they forgot they saw you. So if you're sneaky, you can peek in and shoot them in a weak spot. If they see you, just unload/load them again. This is a great trick for enemies near load spots throughout the game, though it's kind of cheap. If you're too honorable for such a thing, you can always do it the old-fashioned way, huge amounts of damage or dancing with them until they make themselves vulnerable. Anyway, dispose of them then scavenge what you can from this hallway. Grab a Covenant weapon before you go. There are sentinels ahead.

By now you know the routine. Blast sentinels. Pop flood. Retrieve your old weapon. There are two groups of sentinels here to mow down.

The next area is the cryochamber. There is one hell of a battle going on in here, so stay back and let the carnage ensue. If you want to make things easier, you can just run straight up the ladder and skip this whole battle, but then you wouldn't get to kill all these flood that deserve death so richly.

While they're fighting, locate a health pack nearby. You'll have to jump over those same pipes you jumped over when you first started playing Halo. It's on the left, but as usual don't get it until you really need it.

After the battle dies down, go into the cryochamber and finish off any sentinels with the shotgun. Go up the ladder, then move towards the next area, and you should trigger another wave of flood to enter the room below you. Drop a grenade down then drop down yourself (after the grenade goes off) and blast a hole through them running through the doors they entered through. Retreat all the way over the pipes to where the health pack is. They should be easy to take out from the safety of these halls.

Once they are finished, go back up the ladder and move into the control room overlooking the cryochamber. There are more sentinels here. The shotgun is very effective at this close of a range, but be careful of the explosion when they die. The health pack here should be reserved for later use. There's a tough battle waiting in the next hall. On your right as you enter the control room is a door to another little room. This is a great place to hide, reload, and recharge in the upcoming battle. On your left as you entered is a hall full of flood. Ridiculous amounts of flood will come pouring down this hallway. Use your shotgun at medium range and your pistol and grenades at long range and just keep firing. Aim for the carrier flood (the ones that explode). And watch out for flood with rocket launchers. Fall back to your hiding room as often as necessary. Some flood will follow you all the way back here, but at least not all of them will. There will be short breaks allowing you to move forward and pick up ammo before falling back. Eventually they will stop coming. You can try just running through this hall with guns blazing and you'll face fewer enemies, but I'll have to advocate the safer route in this walkthrough. You get to kill more stuff that way. Grab the health pack now if you managed to conserve it throughout the onslaught.

Move down the hall scavenging and cleaning up any stragglers. Keep going straight and you'll find an overshield tucked away in a dead-end. A group of flood will spawn in this room as you leave, so run quickly out of this room, turn left, and move into the maintenance tunnels. You can kill these flood if you want, but it just makes even more spawn in their place.

There are several exits from the tunnels. The far left exit dumps you out into a room with a lot of dead elites and plasma grenades on the ground. The far right exit is blocked, but there's a

69 health pack here along with some frag grenades. Fill up on these goodies while the battle rages outside. Flood will just keep coming down this hall, so wait until there are just a couple of Covenant left, then make a break for it. Run across the hall into the door on the other side. Follow the path around and you should come out and see two energy shields in front of you. Head out, pump a few shotgun shells into anything nearby, and take a left. Follow the big red arrows on the ground towards the armory.

Ahhh, the armory. The sight of all this weaponry brings a tear to my eye. Fill up a shotgun and a rocket launcher and get ready to kill some stuff. Towards the back of the room some invisible flood will come after you. They hurt just as much as the visible ones and look even cooler. You're in a room full of shotgun shells. I think you know what to do. Head off to engineering when you're through here.

Light Fuse, Run Away

At this point conserving ammo is pointless, so blast away with the shotgun as long as it takes. You can always go back to the armory to restock. And there are eight health packs on the sides of computers on the first floor of the engine room, so have yourself a good old time blowing stuff up

When you have the choice of going right or left, go right. Enter the engine room and go up the ramp to your right. Turn left and head all the way back through the door to level 2. Follow the path up until you reach level 3. You can hit the switches in any order. It doesn't make much of a difference.

After you hit each switch, jump onto the retracting pipe and ride it back across the room. Drop down for cover, switch to your rocket launcher, and carefully aim a rocket at the bright slits as they're opening up. Make sure you score a hit before moving on.

For one of the vents, there's a set of three barrels you can use to get back up to level 3 without having to go back through the halls. Jump on the blue one turned on its side. Then jump on the yellow one that's right side up. Next jump on the exhaust coupling (the big square pipe). From here you can just barely jump up onto level 3 where the computers are. It helps to run along the left side of the pipe when you make the jump so you don't get pushed off if you miss. This saves you one trip at least.

Once you're done, Cortana will show you where you to go. Follow her lead, but be careful. Riding the elevator are a couple of grunts with fuel rod guns and a few elites. As the elevator is coming down, aim your rocket launcher for maximum destruction. The elites may survive the rocket, but not your grenades and shotgun. Don't be afraid to retreat here. You're not on a timer... yet. Once everything is dead, move onto the elevator. You should still have at least one rocket and one grenade left. They might be necessary. A few shotgun shells would be good too. Reload everything, switch to your shotgun, and get ready.

Warning: Hitchhikers May Be Escaping Convicts

Grab the first warthog on the right. You should get a health pack on the way. If at any point you flip your warthog, get back in and keep driving as quickly as possible. Only shoot something if it's directly in your path.

Stay in the middle as you enter the first big room. Drop down under the floor, but as you go back up this ramp, steer slightly to one side. When you exit you'll see why. Go around this obstacle then continue down the middle of the path for the rest of this room.

70 The first hallway is rather uneventful. Line your hog up to one side so your off-center entering the next room.

The center way in this room flips me more often then not, so I'm going to suggest the tunnels to the side. Lean even more to your chosen side as you exit these tunnels to get around a wall, then back to the middle to exit. This room and the next hallway are full of sentinels, so when you leave, you might want to take a second to recharge. Better to waste the time recharging than die.

The next hallway has a short cut through it. Go to the left of the first column, then to the right of the second column, then swing around and take the hall to your left. If you're having a lot of trouble getting in, don't worry about it. It's more important to keep moving.

The third big room has a wall blocking your way as soon as you enter. Come in at a steep angle and stay close to one of the walls. There's a catwalk here on either side that the warthog can drive on that gets you through the room quickly. After steering around the big wall, you could also take the off-center tunnel down, and then head back to the middle for the rest of the room. Either way works fine.

The third hall is pretty simple. Get yourself straightened out for the next room.

The fourth room is nasty. Head through the middle and you'll eventually be stuck with a bunch of pillars in your way. Slalom around them. Go to the left of the first one, then to the right of the next, then to the left, etc. until you're through. Head back to the middle for the rest of this room.

After all that, the rest of this run is a breeze. The next hallway leads you to Foe Hammer, but don't stop and wait for her. We all know what happens here. Keep on truckin'.

The next winding hallway has another helpful short cut on the right. Again it's after the second column. Halfway through the short-cut tunnel on your right is another tunnel that leads to an easter egg, but you can come back to visit it after you beat the game. You'd better keep moving.

Soon you'll be warned of a big jump ahead. Line yourself up as evenly as you can and floor it. No chance for corrections in mid-flight. There are actually two jumps right in a row here, so keep straight. There's another easter egg here right after the first jump, but this one takes even more time, so come back for it later.

Keep straight and steady and soon you'll see the hangar opening up before you.

The end is in sight, but you're warthog is blocked by a bunch of junk. You'll have to run the rest of the way. There are a lot of nasty things to hinder your escape, but you can avoid most of them by getting out of the middle area and running alongside it. Few of the combatants will notice you out here.

If you think you're not going to make it, or just want to have some fun, park your warthog right up against the obstacles and get out. Switch to your rocket launcher and throw a grenade under the warthog. Just after the grenade goes off, shoot the warthog with a rocket and you'll send it flying over the obstacles. Now you can get back in and ride to your longsword in style.

Now sit back and bask in your magnificent gloriousness as the ending scene plays. Congratulations! You've just beaten Halo on Legendary!

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